Decatur Boys Win Another Buzzer Beater

Cordele Jackson hit a layup with less than a second remaining as Decatur High’s boys won their second buzzer beater in less than a month, defeating Mt. Vernon Presbyterian 56-54 at the Decatur High Arena Friday night.

“In all my years at Decatur (seven, four as an assistant and now in his third as a head coach), we’ve never had a buzzer beater,” said Charlie Copp. “Now we’ve had two in our last two home games.”

On Dec. 20 Decatur beat Jefferson 50-49 on a last-second jumper from Murad Dillard.

In fact Decatur, 9-4, never led in this one until the final 45 seconds. They trailed by as many as 15 (38-23) with 4:46 left in the third quarter, and were still down 10 with a little over six minutes left.

In Friday’s nightcap, Decatur’s girls scored the first 14 points in a 49-17 cakewalk over Mt. Vernon, also their ninth win in 13 tries.

In game starting 20 minutes before the stated 6 p.m. tipoff, the boys responded like they weren’t altogether warmed up, or in Copp’s words, “we were two steps too slow and they were two steps too fast.”

Decatur may have also taken Mt. Vernon, which is playing its first season as a Georgia High School Association team, too lightly. The program was started six years ago by current coach Curtis Berry and has progressed rapidly.

 Mt. Vernon won two of the last four AAA GISA state championships, and this season, counting Friday, is 9-3 and ranked 12th in Class A.

The Mustangs raced out to a 24-13 lead midway through the second quarter and seemed to be in control. They were led by 6-4 Lithuanian transplant Arminians Kelmelis, who finished with 26 points, 13 in each half, employing a diverse arsenal of subtle inside moves, bull-like drives and mid-range jumpers.

Much as it did last week against Westminster, Decatur seemed to fall hopelessly behind. But the Bulldogs finally displayed an actual pulse with five seconds left in the third quarter when reserve guard Tyler Axam scored his only bucket, a three-pointer, cutting it to 43-33.

“Biggest basket of the game,” said Copp, “and you can quote me. The difference between [being down] 13 and 10 was huge.”

But, again, it seemed Decatur wouldn’t get over the hump, still trailing 52-48 when Mt. Vernon freshman Jared Harper made two free throws with 1:06 left.

Then Dillard knifed his way through paint for a basket making it 52-50. Mt. Vernon’s ensuing in-bounds pass was stolen under the basket by Jackson who laid it in for a 52-52 tie. Jackson, who spent most the night on the bench in foul trouble, scored 10 points, six of those in the final 1:39, although the biggest was yet to come.

Decatur immediately got another steal off its full-court press, this time from Kendall Ford, who whipped a pass to Davante Meadows for a layup giving Decatur its first lead, 54-52, with 45 seconds left.

Mt. Vernon tied it with 15 seconds left when Kelmelis hit two free throws. Without calling a timeout Decatur raced down floor and got the ball into the dependable Ford’s hands.

“Coach told me to get on the wing and turn the corner if I could,” Ford said. “I was thinking basket all the way. But I also know that Dell [Jackson] likes to dive to the basket when I have the ball, and there he was wide open. An easy pass.”

Ford turned the corner, drove the right baseline and just short of, and slightly behind the basket, gave Jackson a textbook wrap-around for the game winning score.

Dillard finished with 11 points – six of those in the fourth quarter – while Meadows led the Bulldogs in scoring with 21 points on 10 of 13 shooting from the field. Decatur had only eight turnovers to Mt. Vernon’s 25, which proved a crucial difference in this game.

Mt. Vernon coach Berry also chose to run his delay game with five minutes left in the game, his team up seven, and also with 3:45 left in the first half and his team up 11. Both decisions proved disastrous.  Decatur outscored Mt. Vernon 6-3 in the last 3:20 of the first half, and 17-8 in the game’s final 5:46.

Berry said later he was missing two starters and “I was doing everything I could to shorten the game. But in the end the turnovers killed us and we wound up making one (Ford’s steal) turnover too many.”

By comparison there was no drama in the girls game. In fact, Mt. Vernon didn’t score its first two points until there was 4:40 left until halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs shot poorly, only 34 percent, on 20 for 58 from the field overall, and 3 for 19 on three pointers, but their defense proved impenetrable for the visitors.

Jordan Dillard, who started slowly, finished with 14 points and five rebounds while Jayla Morrow had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists. Senior Alana Johnson had 11 rebounds.

Both teams play Saturday afternoon against longtime rival Lovett. The girls matchup is particularly attractive with 7-5 Lovett ranked seventh in AAA and Decatur 11th.  Decatur’s boys are currently ranked 18th in AAA while Lovett’s boys are 2-7. The girls play at 3 p.m., the boys at 4:30 p.m.