MAGAZINE — Decatur whittled a 15-point lead for Conway Christian to six with 2 minutes, 1 second remaining, but didn’t score again and saw its season come to an end with a 59-49 loss in the opening round of the Class 2A West Regional Tournament on Friday.
Following a timeout, the basketball was slapped free, but Conway Christian’s Caleb Dather scooped it up under the basket and scored. A pair of free throws by Mark Belvardi with 1:03 left finished off the Bulldogs (21-7).
Decatur coach John Unger was pleased to see his team battle back from the double-digit deficit, but he was more disappointed his team got into a position where it needed to come from behind.
“I go back to the first half. You’ve got to come out with that same aggressiveness and intensity and play like you’re losing from the very beginning” Unger said. “We didn’t do that at the very beginning, and that put us in foul trouble.
“We were down two when Mario (Urquidi) got his third foul, and the next thing you know we’re down 14. That’s an all-state kid on the bench.”
Conway Christian led 18-16 after a 3-pointer by Dakota Pitcher — his fourth of the half — and 21-18 after a bucket by Andrew Harris. But the Eagles ran off the next 11 points, leading to a 34-20 game at halftime.
Urquidi started the comeback with Decatur’s final four points of the third quarter, and he scored 10 in the final quarter to finish with a game-high 18.
Pitcher finished with 15 for the Bulldogs. Dather was one of three Eagles in double figures with 10. Mark Velvardi added 12, and Brandon Helms led Conway Christian with 15.