Life Way Christian beats Decatur boys
DECATUR — The Bulldogs came out on the losing end at Peterson Gym Jan. 26 when the Warriors of Life Way Christian Academy marched into Decatur from Centerton for a 2A-1 conference contest. The Warriors overwhelmed the Bulldogs by 26 points.
On Jan. 20, while the Bulldogs were off, Coach Dayton Shaw received bad news.
Senior Kevin Garcia, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer and rebounder, had a nonsports-related surgery that put him out for the remainder of the basketball season. Leaving seniors Carlos Hernandez, Bryson Funk and Trevor Girdner to pick up the slack.
Sam Green and Trevor Girdner took center court for the opening tip of the contest. The tip went to Warrior’s Preston Green, who drove the ball to midcourt where the ball was stripped away by Bulldog Bryson Funk. Decatur was unable to capitalize on the turnover. The first score of the contest came at the 6:40 minute mark when Life Way’s Ant Potter made a field goal on a layup, giving the Warriors the early lead.
On Decatur’s next possession, Christian Ramirez hit a layup for a field goal to tie the game. Decatur continued to build on its lead during the next 90 seconds. But within 30 seconds, the Warriors came back and tied; and with three minutes left, Life Way tied the game once again. But the Bulldogs fought on and, at the end of the first quarter, were up by two.
Decatur continued to hold its lead for the first two minutes of the second quarter. But Life Way had a scoring run and, by the end of the first half, held a nine-point advantage over Decatur.
The Bulldogs came out of the locker room ready to make up ground, but Life Way had other ideas. Though Decatur stayed with Life Way for the first minute of the third, the Warriors then left the Bulldogs stunned, outscoring Decatur, 16-7, to lead, 4224, going into the final eight minutes.
For the Decatur Bulldogs, the battle was over before the fourth quarter started. The Life Way defense completely shut down Decatur’s offense and the Warriors took the conference contest, 56-24.
With Garcia out of the picture, the Decatur Bulldogs had no players in double figures for only the second time this season. Six players contributed to the Bulldog scoring effort, including Carlos Hernandez, Bryson Funk and Christian Ramirez, each with five points, Edger Herrera with four, Enrique Rubi with three and Trevor Girdner with two.
Life Way Christian had two players in double figures, including Ant Potter with 28 and Preston Green with 10. Other Warriors scoring for the night included Luke Melton with six, Sam Green and Aden Whorton, each with four, and Seth Weaver and Chandler Mathis, each with two.