DHS Boys Lose A Close One To South Atlanta; Lady Bulldogs Romp

Decatur High’s Davante Meadows missed a wide-open five footer at the buzzer and the boys dropped a wrenching 46-44 decision to South Atlanta Friday night at the Spike.

The Bulldogs battled back from a seven point (39-32) deficit, climbing to within 45-44 in the game’s final seconds on two free throws from Xeric Kirk. Coming out of a timeout Decatur immediately fouled South Atlanta, whose player made only one of two free throws.

Decatur had five seconds to move 90 feet, and Kurt Robinson threw a gorgeous three-quarters length pass over South Atlanta’s full-court press to Meadows, who was all alone but didn’t have time to drive it in. His short jumper popped out, and the large crowd groaned in unison.

“That was about as winnable a game as you get,” said Decatur coach Charlie Copp, whose team falls to 8-11. “In fact, it was too winnable. We played as well as we’ve played all season, but it came down to making shots, which we couldn’t do.”

The shooting-challenged Bulldogs have struggled with jumpers all season at just about any spot outside 10 feet. This is particularly painful to Copp, a deadly shooter in his days at the University of Pennsylvania, where he once hit 6 of 7 three pointers in a game against Indiana State his senior year. 

On Friday, playing the entire night against South’s ever-expanding 2-3zone, Decatur shot 15 of 42 total from the field (36 percent), 1 of 12 in three pointers (.08 percent) and 13 of 26 (50 percent) from the foul line.

“With a young team (Decatur starts two sophomores, and a third, Adarius Lucas, has received significant minutes the last two games), you have to take it for what it is,” Copp said. “The good news is, we’re getting much better looks than we did earlier in the year. That bad news is . . . well, you know what the bad news is.”

Junior Brett Riley played one of his toughest, most effective games all year, scoring 10 points. Robinson had a game-high 15 while Kirk had 12, though Copp added, with tongue only partially in cheek, “he should’ve had at least 36.”

South Atlanta improves its record to 12-5.

Decatur’s girls, ranked fifth in the AA Associated Press Poll and eighth in the Coaches Poll, had no such dramatic moments. Despite some defensive sloppiness in the second half, the Lady Bulldogs won easily 54-32, improving their record to 16-3.

Decatur led 24-6 at halftime and, in fact, held South to only one field goal in the game’s first 20:10. Junior Jordan Dillard led all scorers with 16 points while Queen Alford had 15.

“We were great in transition in the first half,” coach Bill Roberts said. “In the second half I wanted to work more on our half court [offense]. [Saturday’s opponent] Westminster won’t let us run like we want too. We’ll need strong half-court execution.”

Decatur plays Westminster’s girls (6-12 after a 78-22 loss to Buford Friday night) at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Spike, while the boys (Westminster is 7-11 after getting thumped 59-32 by Buford) play at 4:30 p.m.