The Cowboys went over to Western Guilford High School to play for the Piedmont Triad 3A Conference Tournament Championship. Their opposition tonight was none other than the Panthers of Dudley High School. The Cowboys swept the regular season and were looking to head into next weeks State playoffs still unbeaten. Dudley came into tonight's contest having won 7 in row. Their last loss? That was to these Cowboys, 86-58 on January 29th. The Panthers have really hit their stride since then and were fully confident in their chances coming into the championship game. It was certainly a championship atmosphere as both schools brought a lot of energy in the stands. The Cowboys jumped out to a strong 10-0 lead at the 5:20 mark. The Panthers scored 4 straight of their own and it was 10-4 at the 4:34. From there the Panthers used a solid 5-2 spurt to cut it to 12-9 with 4:10 to play. After that, Southwest used a solid 11-0 run to push it out to 23-9 at the 2:37 mark. Dudley battled back as the Cowboys seemed to forget how to play defense in spurts, and outscored Southwest 13-6 to close the gap and quarter at 29-22. The Cowboys either played suffocating defense in spurts, or no defense in spurts. After getting a double digit lead, the Panthers roared back. This repeated twice in the frame, as the inconsistent half closed with the Cowboys holding a small 50-47 lead. The it happened. The Cowboys regrouped and focused on the defensive side of the ball. After allowing a basket to make it 50-49, the Cowboys locked in defensively. Southwest’s pressure caused havoc and allowed for a flurry of baskets and dunks that stretched the lead. In all the Cowboys outscored Dudley 32-12 in the frame, which made it 82-59. The Southwest bench once again put on a strong showing as they closed out a dominant second half and continued the blitz. The final score was 115-76. The Panthers were led by Jeremiah Dickerson with 14 points. Yet again the whole roster played big roles. Some highlights were: Keyshaun Langley with (28, 16 Asts, 8, Stls, 6 Rebs), Jayden Turner with (20, 6 Rebs, 3 Blks), Christian Martin with (15, 2 Asts, 2 Rebs), Kobe Langley with (12, 6 Asts, 4 Stls, Reb), and Joel Pertiford with (10, 6 Rebs). Southwest improves to to 26-0 on the season and will play next week to start the NCHSAA 3A playoffs.

                1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Dudley        22  25 12  17   76
Southwest   29  21  32  33 115

Dudley (15-11, 9-6)
Taron Trotman 12
Ayden Gamble 9
Domonique Andrews 1
Jeremiah Dickerson 14
Coleman Wood 4
Manny Elliott 4
Isaiah Staton-Ray 3
Frank Stockton 2
Darien Wynn 13
Cameron Thomas 1
Tyler Young 10

Southwest (26-0, 14-0)
Keyshaun Langley 28, 16 Asts, 8, Stls, 6 Rebs
Kobe Langley 12, 6 Asts, 4 Stls, Reb
Milli Huggins 2, Ast, Reb
Cameron Thompson 7
Jayden Turner 20, 6 Rebs, 3 Blks
Christian Martin 15, 2 Asts, 2 Rebs
Bryce Causey 3, Ast, Reb
Joel Pettiford 10, 6 Rebs
Aamaj Platt 2, 3 Rebs, Ast, Blk
Jeremy Mull 8, 2 Asts
Miles Taylor 6, 3 Rebs, Stl
Rodney Scott 2 Rebs
Caleb Theriault 2, Reb