It’s always a daunting proposition playing Buford in any sport, but on Friday Buford brought its boys and girls basketball teams into The Spike with both ranked first in the state’s AA Coaches Poll.
Decatur’s Lady Bulldogs nearly pulled a historic upset, leading the entire way until Kaela Davis’ two free throws with 3:08 left in the game put Buford ahead (39-38) for good in its eventual 45-41 victory.
The Decatur girls have never beaten Buford. In fact, during her previous three years covering six games, Decatur senior and All-State candidate Queen Alford has lost to Buford by an average 19.5 points per game.
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“We’ve never come close in any game I’ve played against them,” Queen said Friday. “But I don’t think that bothered any of my teammates, and it didn’t bother me. We were all ready to play. Our game plan was to take it right to them, and we almost won. We should’ve won.”
In Friday’s second game Decatur’s boys, despite playing one of their better games all year, never led in Buford’s 57-41 win.
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Buford’s boys ran off the game’s first nine points, the Bulldogs pulled with 23-19 with 2:57 left until halftime before Buford’s 6-8 senior T.J. Shipes scored the half’s final two buckets, one on an inside muscle layup, the other on a savage dunk, to give his team 27-19 lead at intermission.
“Those were crucial portions of the game,” Decatur coach Charlie Copp said. “Allowing them to get those first nine points, then to get the final four [of the half], and those 13 points [combined] were basically the difference in the game.”
Decatur didn’t have a single player in double figures. Point guard Kurt Robinson opened the game with two quick fouls and finished with nine points, all in the second half.
Sophomore Davante Meadows, who improves game by game, had eight points and eight rebounds, while junior Brett Riley also had eight rebounds.
Despite sharp ball movement that created a number of wide open shots, Decatur’s poor marksmanship continues to frustrate Copp.
On Friday the Bulldogs shot 14 of 54 from the field for 26 percent, the fifth time this season Decatur’s shot under 30 percent in a game. This includes 3 for 15 (20 percent) from three-point land.
The girls game, however, was a near classic. Decatur opened up a 14-5 lead in the first six minutes, and remained in command until well into the fourth quarter.
When junior Jordan Dillard hit a pair of free throws with 4:20 left in the third, Decatur had its biggest lead at 33-23. But the Bulldogs didn’t score again for the next 5:50 as Buford fought to within 33-31.
Dillard picked up her fourth foul with 2:04 left in the third, and seconds later Queen was charged with her fourth, placing both stars on the bench for several key minutes late in the third and on into the fourth quarters.
When Queen returned early in the fourth quarter she immediately hit a three to make it 36-31. But the Lady Dogs found Buford’s front-court trapping unsolvable as Buford closed the game with a 22-8 run in the final 12:20.
Despite the foul trouble Queen finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Dillard had a season’s low six points.
Buford was led by Davis’ 16 points, including a perfect 10 for 10 from the foul line, drawing most of her fouls off hard slashing drives.
Buford, which has played a very tough national schedule (seven of its 13 games have come against out-of-state competition), is 8-5. The Decatur girls fall to 12-3.
Decatur’s boys are now 6-9.
Both the boys and girls play today at home against McNair, the girls at 3 p.m. the boys at 4:30 p.m.
