Dillard Siblings Lead Decatur Girls, Boys in Pre-Season Basketball

Just as Decatur High’s football team has its identical Cowan twins, the boys and girls basketball teams have a sister/brother duo in Jordan and Murad Dillard.

In Thursday night’s preseason basketball scrimmage at Riverwood, Jordan scored 25 in leading the girls to a 48-43 win, while Murad totaled 18 in the boys 47-26 victory.

Jordan is a senior who’ll sign with Villanova University next week while Murad, only a junior, grew several inches over the summer to reach the 6-4 range. Despite his increased wing span, Murad played much of the game at point guard.

Go to the Decatur High webpage to see the basketball schedules for 2012-13.

On the boys side, 6-4 senior Cordele Jackson added 12 points and seven blocks.

“It’s no surprise we were sloppy with ball,” said boys coach Charlie Copp, whose team has had only seven practices. “But I like the defense a lot. That is going to have to be our MO all season.”

The boys only played eight on Thursday, although that’ll change when several football players are expected to report for practice Monday, including junior Davante Meadows, last year’s leading rebounder and second leading scorer.

The Bulldogs play for real on Nov. 19 with the third annual Decatur Tip Off Classic. The girls play Arabia Mountain at 7 p.m., the boys play the same school at 8:30 p.m. Paideia and Druid Hills will also participate in the two-day tournament.

Both teams will play 25 regular-season games in 2012-13, and Decatur will once again host the Region 6-AAA tournament on Feb. 13-18.