DECATUR -- The Decatur High senior boys' basketball team continued to struggle as they played host to the Mountainburg Dragons at Peterson Gym in Decatur Jan. 12.
Both Decatur and Mountainburg were tied for fourth place in the 2A4 West conference going into Tuesday night's contest.
Right from the start, the Dragons came off the bench looking to draw first blood as they put the first two points on the board. From that point on, Mountainburg began building on its lead as Decatur struggled to put points on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs put only 9 points on the board during the first quarter to the Dragons' 17, ending the quarter with a 17 to 9 Mountainburg lead.
At the 6:02 mark in the second quarter, Decatur closed the gap to within six. This would be as close as the Bulldogs would get to the Dragons. The second quarter ended with Mountainburg holding a commanding lead over Decatur, 28 to 18.
The Dragons continued their domination of the Bulldogs, extending their lead by as much as 23 points. During the fourth quarter, Decatur fought to within 8 points but was unable to get any shots to drop into the basket. Mountainburg took the victory, 56 to 37.
Leading the scoring for the Decatur Bulldogs was Leng Lee with 11, followed by Kyle Shaffer and Jay Porter each with 8, Troy Flood with 5, Bracy Owens with 3 and Wyatt Bingham with 2.
Decatur senior boys traveled to the northeast Jan. 15 to take on the 2A4West conference leader Eureka Springs Highlanders. It was all Highlanders as the Bulldogs struggled to shut down the number-one player in the conference, Reggie Sanchez. Eureka Springs took the game, 51 to 16.
The Bulldogs are now in fifth place in the 2A4West conference, behind Magazine Leftwich, Mountainburg and Union Christian, all with a 4 and 2 record. Decatur drops to the number five spot, tied with JC Westside with a 2-4 conference record.
The Bulldogs' next conference game was to be a home game against the Leftwich Rattlers Jan. 19 (after press deadline) and an away game in Coal Hill against JC Westside Rebels. Games start at 5 p.m. with the junior high girls.
Sports on 01/20/2016