Decatur Boys and Girls Roll in Deep South Classic

Decatur’s boys and girls teams both overcame long stretches of indifferent play Thursday to win their second-round games in the Deep South Classic tournament at Brookwood High.

The boys came from five points behind late in in the third quarter to beat Brookwood 63-57.

The girls, after a 24-point outburst in the second quarter, including a stretch of 10 consecutive points, coasted to a 48-38 win over Chattahoochee.

Both play Collins Hill today in back-to-back games at 3 p.m. (boys) and 4:30 p.m. (girls) for fifth place in the tournament.

 The boys game featured one of the most bizarre set pieces in recent Decatur history when officials levied five technical fouls with 57.6 seconds left in the third.

Here’s what happened: Brookwood’s Austin Lewis stole the ball and drove for a layup giving his team a 42-37 lead. As Decatur’s Xeric Kirk reached for the ball so he could in-bounds it, Lewis sealed off Kirk from the ball, as if he were blocking him out in a rebound situation though, of course, it was a dead ball situation.

With Kirk reaching for the ball, since it was Decatur’s possession, Lewis shoved him, then both benches emptied. Any and all pyrotechnics were quickly snuffed with coaches and officials separating players.

Officials assigned technicals to Brookwood’s Lewis, D.J. Brown and Chris Kinsey (the latter two came rushing off the bench), and to Decatur’s Kurt Robinson and Davante Meadows, who were also on the bench at that time.

Decatur’s Murad Dillard hit all six of his technical free throws giving the Bulldogs a 43-42 lead, though it was short-lived. Malcolm Hannah followed by hitting three of his four tech shots swinging the advantage back to Brookwood, 45-43.

Then the afternoon turned into Robinson’s personal highlight reel.

Decatur is an entirely different team with Robinson at full health. Playing largely in foul trouble Thursday, Decatur’s 6-2 point guard finally re-entered with 6:30 left in the game and the Bulldogs still trailing 48-47.

As Decatur roared from behind, closing out the game with a 16-9 run, Kurt was directly responsible for 15 of those points, nine that he scored himself, along with three baskets off his assists -- two nifty interior feeds to Kirk, and another slip-around pass to Brett Riley.

Despite long stretches on the bench, Robinson finished with a game-high 20 points while the sophomore Dillard had a career-high 16. Decatur, which has often struggled with erratic shooting this season, was 17 for 30 from the field for possibly a season’s best 57 percent. The Bulldogs were also 27 of 37 (73 percent) from the line.

Decatur’s now 5-7 while Brookwood falls to 2-11.

The girls game had no such dramatic interludes. After a 10-point run gave the Bulldogs 29-9 lead with two minutes left until halftime, this one was largely a yawner. Queen Alford had 18 points and five rebounds, Jordan Dillard 13 and 8, while sophomore Kirstin Munson added 6 and 6.

The Bulldogs, ranked seventh in AA, are 10-2 while Chattahoochee is 2-8.