GRAVETTE -- With the summer off-season winding down, the Gravette Lions hosted an afternoon of basketball between the Decatur Bulldogs, Farmington Cardinals and the Lions junior- and senior-varsity teams in the new gym at Gravette High School July 25.
Each game consisted of two 20-minute halves with a 3-minute break and a running clock that was only stopped for time outs.
Decatur and Farmington played the second of the afternoon's games (scores for the first game between Farmington and Gravette were unavailable). The Cardinals quickly took the lead in the contest over the Bulldogs, who struggled both offensively and defensively throughout the first half. At the 10-minute mark of the half, Farmington had built a 23-7 lead over Decatur. By the end of the half, the Cardinals built as much as a 35-point lead over the Bulldogs, eventually taking a 45-15 margin going into the break.
The scoreboard was reset, giving Decatur a new beginning, but the Bulldogs were unable to regain their composure, allowing the Cardinals to shut down the Decatur offensive drives. The only Decatur players able to score were Kelvin Moreno, Jimmy Mendoza and Jose Rubi, for a total of six points. The defense worked a little better in the second half, cutting Farmington's points to half of those scored in the first game. The Cardinals were still able to pull off a 25-6 victory over the Bulldogs.
In the next contest, the Gravette junior varsity took on the Farmington junior varsity. This contest was close throughout the first half and into most of the second. With 30 seconds left in the game, the Lions held a four-point lead. Farmington fought back with back-to-back two pointers to tie at 33 with 15 seconds left. With only 5 seconds on the clock, the Lions hit a two and regained the lead, 35-33. Farmington was unable to put up a shot, giving the Gravette junior varsity the win.
In the final game of the afternoon, the Gravette senior varsity took on the Decatur Bulldogs. Prior to the game, Coach John Unger sat his young team down in the locker room and gave team members a 25 minute lecture on teamwork. Unger hoped to snap his players out of the haze they had fallen into during the Farmington contest.
In the opening three minutes of the first half, Decatur managed to hold Gravette scoreless but was unable to capitalize on this advantage. The Lions scored first on a two pointer and a foul shot. Twenty seconds later, the Bulldogs put up a two pointer making it a 3-2 Gravette game.
From there, the Lions continued to pull ahead of Decatur on a series of fast breaks that resulted in several dunks by Chris Childress and Dayten Wishon. At the nine-minute mark, Gravette had built its lead to 15. The Bulldogs fought back and began closing the gap and cut the lead to 25-15 at the half-time break.
A slam dunk by Childress led the Lions on a rally in the second half that eventually gave Gravette a 20-point lead over Decatur. In spite of overwhelming odds, the Bulldogs stayed in the contest and, with two minutes left to play, pulled within nine points of the Lions, but Gravette held on and took the victory, 46-33.
For the Decatur Bulldogs, the chance to play stronger teams like Gravette and Farmington, both 4A teams, exposed them to different game plans and should prove helpful as they prepare for the season which lies ahead. For the Lions, the games gave Coach Matt Busch an opportunity to test his teams' strengths and weaknesses against other players.
Sports on 08/02/2017