Wildcats Boys Basketball Team Looks to Extend Win Streak

It has been a season of streaks for the 8-3 Dunwoody High School basketball team.

The Wildcats rattled off three straight wins over North Springs, Marist and Carver to start the season, then dropped three in a row to Tucker, Chamblee and Lakeside.

Since then another tear – they’ve taken their last five games, including winning the annual Kell Longhorn Shootout Christmas tournament.

After a tough season last year, the Wildcats have a good deal of confidence, Griffin said.

"This is a very unified group of kids," he said. "There is just a general team confidence. A good team has an air about them."

Two seasons ago, in Griffin’s first year as head coach, the Wildcats went 21-5. That team lost nine seniors, so Griffin made the decision to give his team experience last season.

“I think for the long term success of this program, we knew we had to go young, even if we had to take our lumps for the year,” he said. “It was definitely trial by fire.”

The return on that investment has been a team that has more swagger on the court, but also a team that knows hard work.

“Maybe there are teams that have worked as hard, but not many that worked harder,” he said. “Hard work is going to lead to results.”

At 8-3, the results are looking good, and two of those losses were down to the wire.

Against Lakeside, the Wildcats lost a tight back and forth game 52-51. Against Tucker, they were edged out in overtime 56-52.

“The biggest thing I think the kids had to learn is how to win games that were close,” said Coach Adam Griffin. “We had some big leads that, frankly, we let dwindle away.”

The team, he said, seems to be getting better at holding on to leads and staying strong when the other team goes on a run.

The team hopes to continue its streak of wins, which is at five, this weekend.

Friday the team hosts Lithonia at home, and Saturday they head to MLK High School.

In the second half of the season, Griffin said, the Wildcats have their work cut out for them, with many tough region games.

“Our region is the toughest region in the state of Georgia,” he said. “There are eight teams in our region, even a ninth team, that would probably qualify for the state tournament in other 4A regions in the state.”

He pointed out that four region teams won Christmas tournaments they played in.

To compete, he said, his small but athletic team is going to have to be tough on the boards.

“We’re in support of undersized basketball here at Dunwoody High School,” Griffin said.

“Our season may be made or broken, literally by rebounding,” Griffin said. “We’re just going to have to be tough enough to fight these big kids in our region on the glass.”

Dunwoody's is a guard-heavy lineup, but the team can score from both outside and inside. Griffin said there’s no single player that the team runs its offense through. If someone has a good open shot, they take it.

“On any given night any of those kids is capable of putting up 15 points,” Griffin said.

Junior Point Guard DeChard Hamilton is averaging 10.6 points per game, senior Forward Bradley McKnight is averaging 11 points and 8 rebounds per game, junior guard Paris Ballinger is averaging 9.1 points per game, senior Guard David Ani averaging 7 points per game and junior Center Ryan Elmore is averaging 8 rebounds and 5.1 points a game.

The team’s sixth man, junior Point Guard Richard Carrington has been a huge lift for the Wildcats this season, averaging 13 points per game.

“He has really embraced the role of giving us that spark,” Griffin said. “He can play point, he can play wing. He’s done a great job.”

The team’s success on the court has also brought out fans.

Griffin said there’s been a consistently solid student section at games.

“Anytime you have students getting behind you, it certainly helps,”