Southwest defeats East Laurens 70-58 to advance to state quarterfinals

The Southwest Patriots rode big scoring evenings from Chase Dupree and CJ Howard to hold off the pesky East Laurens Falcons 70-58 Saturday in the second round of the GHSA Class A-Division I state tournament.

It was a much-needed bounceback for the defending state runners-up in the ways of body language and mental fortitude, as Dupree and the rest of the Patriots showed more focus than they did in Tuesday’s playoff opener.

When Dupree doinked an open dunk and then muffed a reverse layup by not getting far enough from underneath the basket, he didn’t pout.

He came back and drained a pair of long 3-pointers to give Southwest its first double-digit lead at 30-20 with 1:55 left in the first half.

When the Falcons made a few rallies in the second half and didn’t let Southwest pull away, the Patriots calmed down and ran some clock and answered at the free-throw line down the stretch.

The fourth-seeded Patriots will host fifth seed Model — a 70-53 winner over Elbert County — on Wednesday.

It was a game Southwest head coach Monquencio Hardnett needed to see after some irregularities in Thursday’s first-round win over Woodville-Tompkins.

“Much happier,” he said. “As far as sharing the ball and playing as a unit, very satisfied. Probably the best we played all year, as a complete team.

“Way better (body language).”

But the Patriots will need much more offense from those not named Dupree or Howard. Dupree had 28 while Howard netted 27 points, good for 79% of the Patriots’ output.

Hardnett was happy with other aspects of the game and performances even if there weren’t points involved.

That said, he still was not satisfied — unsurprisingly, for a coach with such high standards.

“Just getting back,” Hardnett said. “We’re definitely not rebounding as well. That tells me we’re not boxing out. A couple times, we have rebounds and just lost it.”

Wing Zion Dixon went for 15 points — four above his average — to lead East Laurens, which also got 9 points from Major Floyd and Jeremiah Rozier. Those three along with Skyler Snead got between 8 and 11.4 points per game this season.

“We knew we had to control (Snead); that kid has grown into a pretty good player,” Hardnett said. “He’s a guy that stirs the drink. We wanted to stay close to a really good shooter.”

Snead struggled to a 2-for-8 night from the floor and four points, but Braylon Makaya gave a nine-point boost from the bench.

The Patriots led 32-24 at halftime despite East Laurens getting a buzzer-beating bucket off a loose ball by Floyd.

The margin grew to 14 on a sweet lob pass from Dupree to Jonathan Hurley for a bucket and 38-24 lead, only for East Laurens to creep back within nine momentarily.

Two early buckets in the fourth quarter by Rozier got it back to single digits before a patented Howard drive and score returned it to double figures, where it stayed.

East Laurens head coach Dwayne Lowther saw a little more than he expected from his group.

“Some dogs came out today,” he said. “We left everything on the floor. We see where we need to be, to get where we want to be.”

And in the process, pushed Southwest a little in ways that will be beneficial.

“We’re going to have to do even better on Wednesday, because I know Model or Elbert County will be talented as well,” Hardnett said. “We’ll continue to preach and clean it up.”