Bulldogs win conference!

Decatur wins conference championship for the first time since late '70s; goes on to regional play and possibly state.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

— The Decatur boys basketball team won the 4-2A conference championship and is headed onto play in the regional tournament this week for a spot in the 2A state tournament.

“It's definitely a special championship considering we went from a team that didn’t win any games to a complete turnaround and only one loss in the conference,” Coach John Unger said.

The Bulldogs have a 13-1 record in conference and a 21-6 record overall. The Bulldogs won all their home conference games, losing only one away conference game to the Hartford Hustlers on Dec. 21.

“I thought we did a good job of winning our games on the road and won all the games at home,” Unger said. “It’s an ideal situation - to win all your games at home and steal all you can on the road. We accomplished that pretty well. Its a great achievement”

This marks the first time in recent history the Bulldogs have had a 21-win season. It’s not clear when the last time a Decatur basketball team won the conference championship, Unger said. After searching the school’s trophy case, it appears it may have been in the late 1970s, he said.

“It means a lot, but then, at the same time, it doesn’t mean a lot towards our ultimate goal - trying to win a state championship," Unger said.

District Tournament

The Bulldogs’ conference championship placed them first seed in last week's district tournament.

Decatur lost its first game in the tournament on Thursday against the Hackett Hornets, 32-29.

“We didn’t play very well that night. We let Hackett dictate the speed and didn’t protect the basket like we should. But we learned a lot from the loss," Unger said.

Seniors Andrew Harrisand Avery Clay led the scoring for the Bulldogs with 10 points each.

The Bulldogs went on to win the second game against the Mountainburg Dragons, 52-33, on Saturday.

"The team had a great day of practice on Friday. They sped up their game and played with intensity on Saturday," Unger said.

Decatur did a good job on defense, holding the Dragons to 9 points in the first half for a half-time score of 28-9. The team continued to press Mountainburg and messed up their rhythm, Unger said.

“It shows how coachable these kids are. It was the best game of the year by far, from beginning to end,” Unger said.

Senior Andrew Harris led the scoring with 15 points and 5 rebounds, followed by sophomore Mario Urquidi with 12 points and 12 rebounds and senior Dakota Pitcher with 11 points.

The Bulldogs will play against Conway Christian on Thursday at the regional tournament in Magazine. If they win, they will automatically qualify for the state tournament.

“It’ll be fun. We’ve been looking forward to it,” Unger said.

Sports, Pages 10 on 02/20/2013