Crunch Time for Dunwoody Basketball

Dunwoody boys basketball coach Adam Griffin urges against judging his team by its current six-game losing streak.

The way he sees it, his Wildcats easily could have won most of their last half dozen matchups, if not for struggles in the final two minutes.

"If they knocked that fourth quarter down (from eight) to six minutes, we could be talking about being 3-3 over the last six games," the second-year coach joked. "Problems at the end of games, though, have been a season-long symptom."

Entering tonight's Region 6-AAAA Division A game at Tucker, Dunwoody is fifth of six teams in its subregion and likely to play Division B's fourth-place Douglass in the first round of the region tournament beginning Feb. 15 at Tucker. After Tucker, the Wildcats wind down the regular season against subregion opponents Chamblee and Lakeside, then subregion B foe Southwest DeKalb, before the region tournament.

Griffin said the focus this final week of the regular season is finding means of closing out opponents in the end. He pointed out that, except for a 22-point loss to Marist and 36-point drubbing by two-time defending state champion Miller Grove, the Wildcats have had a late chance to win the losing streak's other four games. Griffin's team lost by only three to Redan, four to Mays and five to Carver on Tuesday.

"Every one of those games was a one-point game in the last two minutes," Griffin said. "Sometimes, we've been our own worst enemy. But if we fix those simple, fundamental things – which we still have time to – we can win."

Though Dunwoody is only 5-15, Griffin points out that everyone starts the region tournament even. And, two wins there would put the Wildcats into the state tournament for the first time since reaching the semifinals under former coach Scott Bracco in 2008.

"Everybody comes into the region tournament 0-0," Griffin said of potentially catching fire despite a regular season of struggle.

Though leading scorer Darrell Strozier is no longer with the Wildcats down the stretch, they believe they can make up for his team-high 18 points a game. Sophomore forward Kelvin Brown enters tonight's matchup averaging 13, followed by senior forward Marcus Wilson and senior guard David Adeboye, who both are averaging eight. Senior center Aaron Easterling chips in seven on average.

"We have a good combination of guys on the floor," Wilson said. "We've still had good team chemistry, we've just panicked a little at the end of games."

If the Wildcats find themselves in close games this week, Griffin hopes they'll have the confidence to seal the deal, instead of working hard for key stops, only to give up easy shots in the late seconds.

"We just want to be in position to win in the last two minutes, and we've done that," Griffin said. "We can't let the moment get the best of us."