Mike Davis Led Southwood with 21 points
Shreveport Times
Seniority paid off for Southwood on Thursday afternoon.
More specifically, seniority in the backcourt. The Cowboys needed every one of the points and steals Mike Davis, Dean Johns and Jeff Latin provided in a 63-52 victory over Loyola in the first round of the Specialists Health System Classic at Northwood.
The senior trio combined for 44 of Southwood's points on offense while continually harassing the younger Flyers guards into turnovers throughout the game.
"We did a good job of getting some mistakes," Southwood coach Norm Picou said. "We had two chances to put them away and they fought back in it. At the end of the game, our three senior guards' maturity and leadership stepped up and carried us through."
Southwood improved to 4-2 and will face Byrd tonight.
The Cowboys' victory didn't come without some trepidation.
After taking a 10-point lead after the first quarter, Southwood coughed it up as Loyola (2-7) ripped off a 15-2 run over the first 6:21 of the quarter.
"We played good basketball," Loyola head coach Willie Jackson said. "They kept that relentless pressure on us and we're young. We made a lot of mistakes by turning the basketball over. You combine the turnovers with the missed free throws and it's a double-edged sword. It made it diffcult for us to get out of that hole, but we had our chances."
Once again, however, it was Davis, who tied Loyola's Trevino Martin for top scoring honors with 21 points, who brought the Cowboys back.
Davis scored the final five points of the quarter, twice hitting his trademark floater in the lane as the Cowboys took a two-point lead — and the momentum — into halftime.
"I just know, if I go hard to the basket, there aren't that many that can stop me," Davis said. "I love (shooting the floater). Love it."
The Flyers fashioned another comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of the quarter's first 13 points to cut Southwood's lead to four points with 3:08 to play when Martin hit a jumper from the free-throw line.
The Cowboys, however, took advantage of two more missed Flyers free throws in the final 90 seconds to put the game away. Latin, who finished with 11 points, and Davis combined to hit eight of nine free throws in the final 1:26 of the game.
The Cowboys' late accuracy at the line made up for a Southwood rarity. The Cowboys were held scoreless from the 3-point line, an unusual occurrence under Picou, who likes his team to push the tempo.
"The thing we told our guys a sign of a team that's maturing is when you play bad and you still win a game," Picou said. "Loyola did a great job. What I was proud of was we were able to hang on and get the victory."
Another sign of the Cowboys' increased maturity was their listening skills.
Davis echoed his coach's words about how much his team has grown since the 2008-09 season ended in February.
"We work harder in practice now," Davis said. "We didn't used to work hard. We would have lost this type of game (last year). We wouldn't have been able to pull it together."
Boxscores from Tourney Missing 2
Here's the box, make that 2 boxes from the tourney:
Specialists Health System Classic
Captain Shreve 72, Mansfield 69
Captain Shreve 13 16 25 18 — 72
Mansfield 12 12 27 18 — 69
Captain Shreve — Jarrius Marshall 30, A. Alexander 9, Bowman 9, Chatman 8, Givens 4, Wells 4, Davis 3, L. Alexander 2. Mansfield — Kenderrick Booker 18, Quaderrial Thomas 17, Cavosya Dupree 16, Brandon Campbell 17, Hunter 2, Armstrong 1.
3-point goals: Captain Shreve 4 (Marshall 4), Mansfield 1 (Campbell).
Southwood 63, Loyola 52
Loyola 10 20 10 12 — 52
Southwood 20 12 19 12 — 63
Loyola (2-7) — Trevino Martin 21, Washington 9, Harris 8, Bates 5, Baker 4, Huffman 4, Bamburg 1.
Southwood (4-2) — Mike Davis 21, Dean Johns 12, Jeff Latin 11, Williams 9, Daniels 8, Petterway 2.
3-point goals: Loyola 2 (Martin, Baker).
Courtesy of the Shreveport TImes
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