DECATUR -- As was the case for most of the season, the Decatur Bulldogs had trouble making baskets, resulting in another conference loss, this time to the Alpena Leopards at Peterson Gym in Decatur Jan. 23.
The Leopards came into the contest currently in fourth place in the 1A Northwest conference ahead of the Bulldogs. For Decatur, this game was the team's chance to get its second conference win against Alpena.
It looked promising for the Bulldogs as Cayden Bingham scored the first two points of the night. By the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs held a slim one-point lead, 10-9, over the Leopards going into the second quarter.
Things changed drastically for the Bulldogs when the Leopards took control of the game and allowed the Bulldogs to score only four points in the second quarter, six in the third and eight in the fourth, to take home a 49-28 win.
Taylor Haisman was the only Bulldog player in double figures, with 10 points. Three other Decatur players contributed to the scoring effort, including Cayden Bingham with eight, Ryan Ross with six and Alex Lee with four.
At Lead Hill on Friday, it looked like a repeat of the Alpena contest early as the Tigers took a commanding 11-2 lead in the opening quarter of play. But John Unger, Decatur coach, had other ideas and a change in the Bulldogs' game plan proved to work. Decatur hit 17 points in the second quarter and held the Tigers to nine. By the end of the quarter, Decatur was down by only a single point going into halftime.
Lead Hill managed to hold on to its lead throughout the entire third quarter and had a 30-28 advantage going into the final eight minutes of the contest.
The outcome of the game came down to the final 30 seconds. The Bulldogs managed to pull out in front by three and shut down Lead Hill's offense, giving Decatur its second conference win of the season, 41-38.
Two Bulldogs were in double figures, Haisman with 22 points, followed by Ross with 10. Rounding out the Decatur scoring efforts were Garry Wood with 5 and Bingham with 4.
Sports on 01/31/2018