COLUMBUS — If the Buford boys basketball team goes on to capture its second title in three seasons, they may want to give a game ball to Loganville.
“The guys came into that game (a 59-54 loss at The Buford Arena) thinking they could just show up and win. Loganville punched us in the mouth. It was a wake call for the entire group, Buford coach Eddie Martin Martin.
“We recommitted to the things we needed to do to win – play defense and rebound – after that and they really been playing well since.”
That may be an understatement of sorts.
The Wolves ran their win streak to 13 straight games Saturday with an impressive 59-50 win over Southwest DeKalb in a Class 5A semifinal showdown at the Lumpkin Center at Columbus State. They will take on the Fayette County, a 69-62 winner over Lithonia in the other semifinal, at 8 p.m. in Macon next Friday.
The victory moved Buford (28-2) into the championship game for the second time in three seasons and continue to help erase a disappointing second-round playoff loss last year.
Buford forced 14 SWD turnovers and outrebounded the Panthers 36-20 for the game.
“Everyone on the team that was a part of last year knows we didn’t play well in the playoffs and began working to get here last spring,” Martin said. “The Loganville helped us refocus and I think we‘re playing our best ball of the season right now.”
Buford trailed just once, 2-0 on a basket by the Panthers’ KD Johnson less than a minute into the game, and responded with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Donell Nixon 3-pointer, to begin to take control. SWD cut the lead to 9-6 on a James Glisson III layup late in the first quarter but that would be as close as the Panthers would get the rest of the way.
The second of what would become six Nixon 3-pointers on the night gave Buford a 14-6 lead to end the opening period and the Wolves pushed it to 21-10 on a Marcus Watson trey early in the second quarter. SWD answered with a 6-0 run to get within 21-16 but the Wolves closed out the first half with an 8-3 spurt for a 29-19 lead.
Nixon’s long-range bombs helped set the tone and open things up for Watson and Coleman, and Bobby Miller, who had 14 points as the Panthers defense was forced to key on the leading trio.
“Donell shot the ball great and Bobby has been playing really well,” Martin said. “When Donell is hitting like that it opens up things for Marcus and Eric and then that allows Bobby to get open looks. Bobby is one of our top defenders but he is capable of giving us 10 to 14 points when the other team has to guard the others.”
The teams played to a standstill in the third quarter as Buford took a 44-33 lead into the final period. The Wolves exploded to open the fourth quarter getting a fastbreak dunk from Coleman and a Caleb Williams basket off a Coleman assist for a 48-33 lead.
But the Panthers would make one last push using a 6-0 run to get within 50-42 with 4:39 left. Martin said the Wolves’ response was the key.
“You know a team that good is not going to lay down,” he said. “We knew they had one more run in them but we talked about just keeping our poise. The guys did a great job at the end.”
Nixon poured in 20 points, including the six 3-pointers, to pace Buford. Watson and Miller both finished with 14 points and Coleman had 9 for the Wolves.
Johnson finished with 20 points to lead SWD and Glisson had 12 points.
