Mpls Southwest takes lead in City Conference
Minneapolis Southwest claimed the top spot in the City Conference last night with a 65-64 win over Conference co-leader Minneapolis South. Southwest's Akeem Smith gives MinnesotaPreps the rundown.
Advertisement
Southwest and South were tied 6-2 for Conference play coming into the game. They walked onto the Southwest court knowing that one of them would leave with with top honors and a solid shot to seal the deal on the Conference Championship. There are just a handful of regular season games remaining.
Southwest won the game in the closing seconds as AJ Ray banked in the winning shot at the buzzer for a 65-64 victory. Ray averages 7 point per game and stepped up when Akeem Smith was doubled by South to prevent him from shooting. Ray got the ball on a pass from Cady and banked in the winner.
Smith described the closing seconds.
"We were down and it wasn't looking very good for us... down by 5 with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left."
In the final seconds South went to the free throw line. where they missed the first and made the second. Southwest got the ball with under six seconds remaining.
"we got the ball in with 5.6 seconds left. I'm calling for the ball but there were 2 south players running to me. Our PG Demetrius Cady passed the ball to AJ and he banked it in."
Demetrius Cady, Akeem Smith and Cam Ross all average double figures on the average for Southwest. Akeem had 17 for the evening and the pressure was on from South to keep him from making the winning shot. That opened up Ray who took the pass from Cady and stepped up big for the winner.
Southwest has 2-5 Edison up next, followed by 4-3 Washburn and 3-4 Roosevelt. This was their third win in a row. It's interesting to see the Southside leading the Northside in Conference play. The final few games should be fun.
Special thanks to Steve Kotvis and f/go photography for his cover shot of Akeem Smith.