Home court advantage in the opening round of the Class 5A high school basketball tournament was on the line in the semifinals of the Region 4-5A Tournament on Wednesday night at Tucker High School and the No. 1 seeded Tucker Tigers and Arabia Mountain Rams posted wins.

Arabia Mountain (23-2) rolled past the Lithonia Lady Bulldogs (6-18) 52-18 to claim a host role along with the Decatur Lady Bulldogs (8-12) who upset the Chamblee Lady Bulldog (15-6) 44-43.

Charmaine Owens scored nine first quarter points as the Lady Rams jumped out to a 19-5 lead after one quarter of play. Arabia Mountain led 30-7 at the half after outrebounding Lithonia 20-10 in the opening half of play.

Owens finished the night with 18 points and Shanya Heath joined her with 15 points. Jhia Primrose had five points and eight rebounds. Lithonia got a tea-high 10 points from Lashaj Cline.

In the other girls’ semifinal, the Decatur Lady Bulldogs got a break on a three-point play by Ryan Almadi on a continuation call on foul outside the three-point arc. The play broke a 41-41 tie while giving Decatur a 44-41 lead with 1:05 to play.

A turnover by Decatur gave Chamblee a chance to tie the game but Alana Azeta was fouled. She hit both free throws with 5.5 seconds left on the clock to close the gap to 44-43. Mackenzie Cassidy stole the inbounds pass only to have her shot roll off the opposite of the goal.

Chamblee’s Primrose rebounded in traffic and put a shot up which bounced off the rim as the buzzer went off preserving Decatur’s win. Brianna Wood finished with 12 points and seven rebounds to lead Chamblee and Alan Azeta had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Decatur got 10 points each from Baily Butler and Ryan Elmhdi.

4-5A BOYS SEMIS
The No. 1 seeded Tucker Tigers pulled away from a 4-4 tie at the end of the first quarter to down the Lithonia Bulldogs (9-16) 61-22 to move into the championship against Decatur.

Tucker opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run spurred by Khyari Dunn’s four points. Jakobe Williams swished the net for a pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes of the period to send the Tigers into half up 25-10. Tucker put together a 25-point third quarter to pull even further ahead. Jamar Graham opened the period with a short jumper from the baseline and Williams followed with this third trey. Corde Neyland would go on to score 11 points in less that three-minutes to seal the game.

Williams and Josiah Lawson both hit for 14 points to lead the Tigers (21-4) and Neyland added 13. Graham contributed six points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Kai McAfee led Lithonia with seven points.

The opening boys’ game of the night went to the Decatur Bulldogs (18-6) who defeated the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions (18-9) 50-39 to reach the finals against Tucker. A 9-0 run in the second quarter keyed the breakaway the Bulldogs needed. A three-pointer by Alden Daniels kept the run rolling and Jason Welborn had a steal for a layup and two free throws added into the run.

Dectur took a 29-15 lead into the half, but the Lions never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. Devin Bowers finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Lions while Shandel Heath added 10 points. Luke Brooks led Decatur with 14 points and eight rebounds.

REGION 6-4A
The Stephenson Lady Jaguars and Southwest DeKalb Panthers picked up state tournament berths with Region 6-4A quarterfinal wins at Holy Innocents on Wednesday night.

Stephenson (15-10) defeated Hapeville Charter 42-30 as both Kamryn Larkin and Raven Robertson hit for 15 points in the game. They play Holy Innocents at 7:00 pm on Friday.

Southwest DeKalb (11-14) had to rally from a halftime deficit to upend Druid Hills (15-10) 56-55 in the final seconds of the game.

Thomas Glanton III hit a floater off a steal by Nazir Mergan with nine seconds to play to give the Panthers the lead. Glanton had tipped the ball away and Mergan completed the steal. Southwest DeKalb takes on host Holy Innocents at 8:30 pm on Friday.

The Stone Mountain Lady Pirates (7-19) had their season come to an end in a 90-21 loss to Holy Innocents as did the Miller Grove Wolverines in a 77-40 loss to the Holy Innocents Lions.

DCSD REGION BASKETBALL RESULTS
Wednesday, Feb. 14
REGION 4-5A at Tucker
SEMIFINALS
(G) Decatur (8-12) 44, Chamblee (15-6) 43
(B) Decatur (18-6) 50, M.L. .King (18-9) 39
(G) Arabia Mountain (23-2) 52, Lithonia (6-18) 18
(B) Tucker (21-4) 61, Lithonia (9-16) 22

REGION 6-4A at Holy Innocents
(Winners in 4A State Playoffs)
(G) Stephenson (15-10) 42, Hapeville (9-16) 30
(B) SW DeKalb (11-14) 56, Druid Hills (15-11) 55
(G) Holy Innocents (20-6) 90, Stone Mountain (7-19) 21
(B) Holy Innocents (20-6) 77, Miller Grove (4-21) 40

DCSD REGION BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 15
Region 4-6A at Riverwood
Semifinals
(G) St. Pius (14-12) vs. Lakeside (17-6), 4:00 pm

REGION 5-2A AT Eagle’s Landing Christian
Semifinals
(G) Landmark Christian (15-5) vs. Columbia (20-5), 4:00 pm
(B) Towers (15-11) vs. Columbia (23-2), 5:30 pm
(G) McNair (14-12) vs. Callaway (22-3), 7:00 pm
(B) Landmark/Callaway vs. ELCA (21-5)

Friday, Feb. 16
REGION 4-5A at Tucker
CONSOLATION
(G) Lithonia (6-18) vs. Chamblee (15-6), 4:00 pm
(B) Lithonia (9-16) vs. M.L. King (18-9), 5:30 pm
FINALS
(G) Decatur (8-12) vs. Arabia Mountain (23-2), 7:00 pm
(B) Decatur (18-6) vs. Tucker (21-4), 8:30 pm

REGION 6-4A at Holy Innocents
SEMIFINALS
(G) Westminster (18-6) vs. Southwest DeKalb (20-6), 4:00 pm
(B) Hapeville (14-12) vs. Westminster (18-8), 5:30 pm
(G) Stephenson (14-10) vs. Holy Innocents (20-6), 7:00 pm
(B) SW DeKalb (11-14) vs. Holy Innocents (19-6), 8:30 pm

REGION 5-2A AT Eagle’s Landing Christian
CONSOLATION
(G) Landmark Christian (15-5)/Columbia (20-5) vs. McNair (14-12) vs. Callaway (22-3), 4:00 pm
(B) Towers (15-11) vs. Columbia (23-2) vs. Landmark/Callaway vs. ELCA (21-5), 5:30 pm,
FINALS
(G) Landmark Christian (15-5)/Columbia (20-5) vs. McNair (14-12) vs. Callaway (22-3), 7:00 pm
(B) (B) Towers (15-11) vs. Columbia (23-2) vs. Landmark/Callaway vs. ELCA (21-5), 8:30 pm,