The Bowie Jackrabbits completed its challenging week against two state ranked 4A teams versus Decatur at home Saturday morning.
Maybe it was the early starting time of 10:30 a.m. Maybe it was because the Jackrabbits were playing its second straight game without all-state player Daniel Mosley. Maybe it was because the Eagles are just that good.
Whatever the reason, Bowie played its ugliest game of the season as Decatur won 58-26.
It was a slow paced, defensive grind it out affair from both teams in their approach. The Eagles were trying to get to the rim and were looking for driving lanes. The Jackrabbits were looking for open perimeter shots.
Bowie did a good job of staying in front of drivers, but Decatur made up for it by dominating the glass and getting put backs. The Eagles led 11-0 near the end of the first quarter.
No matter how much passing and screens were set, the Jackrabbits could not get anyone open. This led to some forced drives from players that missed with no foul call to bail them out. Bowie scored its first points with a little more than two minutes to go. Decatur led 13-6 heading into the second quarter.
With no Mosley inside, the Jackrabbits’ post players had a hard time dealing with the physical Eagles. Coach Jonathon Horton would sub in another player anytime he saw a post player give up an offensive rebound. At one point, after Horton had gone through all of his post players, he sent in guard Kade Hilton to play two minutes in the post and he held up better than you would think.
Not much changed throughout the game. Open shots were hard to come by for Bowie and players had to make something happen, usually falling on Justin Franklin’s shoulders. The Jackrabbits trailed 27-12 at halftime.
With the third quarter usually being Bowie’s best quarter, things looked like it was going to be a different half. The Jackrabbits scored six of the first eight points in the quarter’s first two minutes and looked like offensively things might pick up.
Unfortunately, Bowie’s offense went on a drought for the rest of the quarter while Decatur steadily continued extending its lead by finding driving lanes and offensive rebounding. The Jackrabbits went into the fourth quarter with little hope of a comeback trailing 42-18.
At some point, Bowie started isolating Franklin on offense, hoping he could get hot from the field creating his own shot.
Despite trying many things offensively and defensively throughout the game, the results from each quarter did not change much. The final score was 58-26.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.