Southwest is 7-2 against East Laurens since December of 2016 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Friday. The Southwest Patriots will square off against the East Laurens Falcons at 5:30 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Southwest sitting on seven straight wins and East Laurens on three.
It was a classic North v. South duel when Southwest faced off against Northeast on Friday. Southwest simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Northeast 80-45. The Patriots have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 21 points or more this season.
C.J. Howard
| 02/07/25 vs Northeast | 70% |
| 01/03/25 vs Dodge County | 58% |
| 12/13/24 @ Dublin | 56% |
| 12/06/24 @ Jefferson County | 56% |
| 12/28/24 @ Jones County | 55% |
Southwest's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but C.J. Howard led the charge by going 7-for-10 on his way to 18 points and three steals. The dominant performance also gave Howard a new career-high in field goal percentage (70%). Another player making a difference was Brandon Ashley, who went 6-for-15 en route to 20 points.
Southwest was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Northeast only racked up nine assists.
Meanwhile, East Laurens hadn't done well against Washington County recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. East Laurens snuck past Washington County with a 61-55 victory. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 125th, while the Golden Hawks are ranked 338th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Southwest better focus on containing Tylan Snead and Rashund Washington Jr. as the pair were huge in East Laurens' win. Snead dropped a double-double with 18 points and ten rebounds, while Washington Jr. dropped a double-double with 17 points and ten boards. Snead's evening made it seven games in a row in which he has scored at least 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Skyler Snead, who posted ten points.
East Laurens pushed their record up to 17-5 with the win, which was their 18th straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.4 points over those games. As for Southwest, their record now sits at 21-2.
Southwest didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against East Laurens in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, but they still walked away with a 76-71 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southwest since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
