Southwest Patriots punch ticket to Sweet 16 with 82-50 win over Bacon County

In a lopsided affair, the Southwest Patriots boys basketball team steamrolled the Bacon County  Raiders 82-50 at home Wednesday night in the first round of the GHSA Class A-Division I Playoffs. 

The Patriots improved to 24-2 on the season, extending their win streak to 10 games.  

The team was led by Chase Dupree, who had a game-high 28 points on 55% from the floor.  Senior Brandon Ashley was close behind him with 17 points on 41%. 

“Ashley is really the guy that’s doing it on both ends right now,” Patriots head coach Monquencio Hardnett said. “He’s been doing it for the last month and a half.” 

Although they had an overall dominant performance, the Patriots still feel like they have room  to improve. Their game ebbed and flowed, with a slow start, scoring only four points in the first  three minutes of the game.  

“I think the expectations kind of got to us early. It’s why we missed the shots,” Hardnett said. “Kind of turning the ball over a little bit. We were able to settle down.” 

After a timeout a minute later, senior Ty’Shaun Brantley took matters into his own hands,  converting on back to back 3-pointers. To cap off the quarter, senior Brandon Ashley hit a  buzzer-beater 3-pointer from the corner to put Southwest up 23-10.  

Once they took control, the Patriots didn’t look back. They went on a 25-8 run in the second  quarter to end the half with a 48-18 lead. Southwest remained in the drivers seat for the  remainder of the game, never allowing the Raiders within 20 points.

Hardnett harped on the fact that the team needed to play that way all the time. “Once the game got ugly, we started doing things that we didn’t want to do. And that’s what I try to  coach against because bad habits are hard to break.” 

The team also prides themselves on their defensive intensity.

“I keep telling them, if we’re going to go all the way, we got to be great defensively,” Hardnett said. “And that’s the thing that we focus on coming into this game. And that’ll be the game we focus on, because the games are going to get harder as we go. They’re going to get more difficult, so we got to be in tune defensively.” 

With their win, the Patriots are set to play another home contest on Saturday against Banks  County, who won a close contest against Chattoga today 81-76. As the higher seed,  Southwest will retain home court through the next round as well.  

“It’s a short turnaround. So we just got to come in and make sure we take care of our  responsibilities,” Hardnett said about the matchup. “They did score 80 points. So again, defense is going to be at a premium for us.” 

Hardnett said he feels good about the matchup and is ready to take on the challenge of the second round. 

“Got a little bit sloppy. I’m not happy with that,” he said. “But we’ll get in here tomorrow and try to keep those things. We do what we’re supposed to do. Take care of responsibilities.”