Junior Bulldogs lose to Tigers on the road, Pirates at home

Photo by Mike Eckels Tafari James (Decatur 15) puts up a jumper from inside the lane during the Decatur-Prairie Grove junior high basketball contest at Tiger Arena in Prairie Grove Dec. 15. The junior Bulldogs lost this matchup by 12 points.
Photo by Mike Eckels Tafari James (Decatur 15) puts up a jumper from inside the lane during the Decatur-Prairie Grove junior high basketball contest at Tiger Arena in Prairie Grove Dec. 15. The junior Bulldogs lost this matchup by 12 points.

DECATUR -- A hush filled the Peterson Gym in Decatur Dec. 15 as Jason Porter, assistant basketball coach, sat down to enjoy lunch before setting up for the junior high basketball games with the Prairie Grove Tigers that afternoon.

As Porter sat at his desk in the coaches office, he noticed water starting to cover the gym floor. He walked out of the office and into a flood of water coming from around the girls' locker rooms on the southeast corner of the gym. A pipe which had burst near the water heaters by the locker room started the torrent.

He contacted the school's maintenance department and within a few minutes Doug Holly and his crew were on site cutting off the flow of water into the building. Quick thinking on the part of Porter and Holly saved the gym floor from serious damage.

With Peterson Gym out of commission, the next question was whether or not to cancel the games with Prairie Grove. With the Tigers' senior high team away that night, the game was moved to Tiger Arena in Prairie Grove.

When the two teams met at center court, it became apparent that the Decatur junior boys were going to have their hands full. The Tigers appeared much bigger and stronger than the Bulldogs.

The junior Tigers jumped to an early lead and held the Junior Bulldogs scoreless through the first five minutes of the first quarter. However, a two-point shot by Tafari James with only seconds left put the junior Bulldogs on the score board. They would be the only points scored by Decatur through the remainder of the first half as Prairie Grove took a 20-2 lead going into the halftime break.

The junior Bulldogs gained a little ground in the second half, holding the junior Tigers to a total of five points for the remainder of the contest. While Decatur began to shoot better, it was far from enough to catch up and the Prairie Grove Tigers took the victory, 25-11.

The junior Bulldogs returned to a dry Peterson Gym Dec. 19 to take on the Greenland junior Pirates. This contest started slow with Greenland building a seven-point lead in the first quarter. A two-pointer by James midway through the quarter cut the lead to five.

For the remaining 18 minutes of the contest, Greenland dominated the boards, scoring 14 points in the second and third quarters and eight in the final quarter to take a 43-18 victory over Decatur.

Leading the scoring for the Bulldogs against the Pirates was Tafari James with 12, followed by Kelvin Moreno, Joseph Armstrong and Jose Rubi each with 2.

Sports on 12/28/2016