William Goodwin scored 25 points, including five emphatic dunks in the closing minutes, to lead Southwest DeKalb to a 65-52 home victory over Chattahoochee on Wednesday night to advance to the Class AAAA quarterfinals.
The Panthers built a large lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Cougars 20-7 in the second quarter as part of a 26-6 run that put them up 38-18 with 6:22 left in the third.
For Southwest (24-5), taking control of the game largely was a matter of calming down and not trying to do too much, which curtailed the turnovers that plagued the Panthers in the first quarter.
"We were pressing a little bit," Southwest coach Dwayne McKinney said. "Once we settled down, we were able to get the shots that we wanted. I think when we were getting the ball in transition, we were making some rushed passes. Our guys were a little too amped up to begin with."
When the Panthers got their play under control and started to get the ball inside to the 6-foot-8 Goodwin, Chattahoochee (25-5) had little answer for the big man around the basket.
But the Cougars did have a response for the 20-point deficit -- Jaron Blossomgame.
The Clemson commit, who finished with 23, had seven points through the first 20 minutes of the game, but 12 in the final few minutes of the third quarter, burying three 3-pointers to lead the Cougars back into the game.
After a Ryan Peavy steal and fast-break hoop early in the fourth, Chattahoochee had closed the gap to 10, at 47-37. The Panthers had gotten away from feeding Goodwin in the post, and the Cougars were glad to take advantage of the less-structured Southwest offense.
"When we were up by 20, and then they got it back within 10, I was like, ‘Oh man, I've got to go back in to the post,'" Goodwin said. "I'm trying to take my game outside instead of just strictly inside. But when it gets out of control like that, I take it back inside."
And it worked. Goodwin scored 11 of his points in the final three minutes of the game, taking over down the stretch to keep Chattahoochee from pulling to within single digits.
He definitely had a size advantage against a team that didn't start anyone taller than 6-4 Jamie Frost, and finding their big guy opened the offense for everyone.
"In a few games before, we didn't do that as well, getting him the ball where he needed to get the basketball," McKinney said. "We'd just stand around. Teams are going to play us zone because of him. But we'll stand around and just put the ball over our head. But once we move it and get it to him, we're in pretty good shape because teams we play on most nights will be smaller than him."
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