While Decatur bowed out of the state tournament last Wednesday, their run through the regular season and advancement to the second round was still noteworthy.

The Bulldogs finished the season 22-6 overall, 9-4 in Region 6-AA. They reached the second round of the state tournament in consecutive seasons.

Much of the reason for the Bulldogs’ success this season came from its leader in junior shooting guard Trumon Jefferson. Jefferson was Decatur’s leading scorer in their first round win over Chattooga, as his 16 points helped allow the Bull-dogs to become one of the final 16 teams in Class AA.

Jefferson was able to create op-portunities on the floor with his quickness this season. As Decatur focuses a great deal of effort on its half-court sets, especially on de-fense, Jefferson was able to create fast break opportunities with steals or transition offense off of defensive rebounds and outlet passes.

Offensively, Jefferson showed the ability to shoot from the outside, as he opened the Chattooga game with two three-pointers. When defenders guarded him more closely, he was able to drive by them and score by driving straight toward the basket.

However, Jefferson’s largest value came when he was able to dish the ball to open teammates when the opposition doubled down on him. The Bulldogs run a drive-and-kick out drill during practice and in warm-ups prior to games.
When Jefferson gets double teamed, he rhythmically passes the ball outside to teammates for open perimeter shots.