Decatur High Boys, Girls Beat Towers

In a chaotic up-and-down affair, Decatur’s boys broke open a close game late in the third quarter to beat Towers 58-46 Tuesday night.

It wasn’t pretty but was often fun, and may have even set a modern record for most open-court spin moves attempted in a 32-minute contest.

In the end Decatur won because of splendid performances from front-court partners Cordele Jackson and Davante Meadows. Jackson poured in 19 points on 6 for 8 shooting from the field, though he spent long stretches on the bench due to foul trouble, which has plagued him all year (he fouled out with 42 seconds left).

Meadows scored 18 points on 8 for 11 shooting and claimed 10 rebounds in one of his most intense efforts all year.

In the night’s first game at Towers, Decatur’s girls received a career-high 19 points from Jayla Morrow in winning 58-20. The 5-foot-2 lightning-quick freshman hit 9 of 15 floor shots on Tuesday, which was also her 15th birthday.

The boys game began with Jackson scoring Decatur’s first 10 points before getting pulled after foul number two. When he left Towers came to life, running its motion offense and opening the lane for an endless barrage of drives and dishes.

Towers ran out to a 23-19 lead with 2:30 left in the first half, and trailed only 24-23 at intermission. The home team’s blur of a guard tandem in Kadeem Perry and Travone Wray, both under 6-feet tall, finished with 16 and 11 points, respectively.

Jackson opened the second half with a three pointer, but ultimately the final two quarters belonged to Meadows when he scored 13 of his points.

Towers was still within 33-31 with 3:25 left in the third before Decatur went on a 20-8 splurge to put this one away.

At times the pace got a little reckless for the Bulldogs, who took a few too many unwise threes and committed 20 turnovers. But the ball movement was much better than in recent games.d  Decatur recorded 12 team assists and shot a crisp 25 for 45 from the floor (56 percent), including 4 for 11 in three pointers.

Meantime the girls trailed 2-0 before Morrow hit a three pointer, after which this one was never in doubt. Jordan Dillard, bouncing back from one of the lesser games of her career last Saturday, had 17 points, four assists and six rebounds. Junior Kris Munson added five points and seven rebounds.

The boys are now 12-6 and 3-4 in Region 6-AAA play, while the girls are 13-5 and 6-1. They play again Friday at Woodward Academy, important regional games for both, with the girls tipping off at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30 p.m.