Southwest rallies to top Northeast

The Southwest Patriots rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to take a hard-fought 66-51 win Saturday over Northeast.

Justin Slocum scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half and Nick Hargrove added 20 as the Patriots improved to 7-1.

Northeast was led by Chris Spencer, who had 19 points, and freshman Darius Dunn, who had 16.

The Raiders (0-7) led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter and maintained the lead throughout the second quarter. Southwest caught the Raiders at 23 on Slocum's only points of the first half, but Northeast closed the quarter on a 9-2 run on 3-pointers by Ty'Ree Gilbert, Dunn and Spencer to take a 32-25 lead into the half.

Southwest came out strong in the third quarter, with Slocum scoring the first five points to make it 32-30, and Southwest took the lead for good at 34-33 on a Hargrove basket.

Slocum dominated the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of the first 12 points for Southwest to stretch the lead to 58-48, and Northeast, with three freshmen getting major playing time, didn't cut into the lead again.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Slocum: The Southwest senior's stat line said it all. He scored 21 points and had 12 rebounds, seven steals, five assists and two blocks. He scored the first five points in the third quarter to start a Patriots run, and he put the game away in the fourth quarter with six straight points to start the quarter.

Hargrove: The junior guard who transferred from Bible Baptist in McDonough scored 20 points and also had seven assists and five steals. His father, Nick, is an assistant coach on the Southwest staff.

Spencer: The Northeast senior kept the Raiders in the game for most of the day with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

TURNING POINT

Southwest turned the game around in the third quarter, outscoring Northeast 21-10, and then continued to play well in the fourth quarter, outscoring Northeast 20-9. Slocum, who was quiet in the first half, played like a man possessed with 19 points, eight rebounds and six steals in the second half alone.

THEY SAID IT

Southwest head coach Robert Worthy on the difference between the two halves of basketball: "Honestly, Northeast came out and played with more energy than we did in the first half. I don't know if it was because this was the first time we have played back-to-back nights, but they gave us all we could handle. We did a good job of regrouping at halftime, and we played a good second half."

Slocum on the difference between the halves: "We were down seven and we knew we had to get after it in the second half, and I just tried to play with as much energy as I could. We had some good things happen in the third quarter, and we just tried to build on it."

Northeast head coach Kelvin Grooms on looking for that first win: "We know we are better than our record, and we played our best basketball of the season in the first half. We are having to learn to play with three freshmen because of some injuries, but we are getting better and will continue to get better."

ALSO

The Northeast girls edged Southwest 36-35. Sadaja Price made a free throw with 19 seconds left to give the Raiders the win. Ashanty Hightower led the way for Northeast with 18 points, while Toniya Hurst led Southwest with 11.

WHAT'S NEXT

Southwest hosts Spencer on Tuesday, while Northeast travels to Jones County on Friday.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Southwest rallies to top Northeast ."