The celebration was short and sweet for Decatur High’s boys basketball team Friday night at Earl Morris Gym.

With a 50-44 win over local rival Hartselle, Decatur has won four of its past five games.

But after briefly patting his team on its collective back, Red Raiders head coach Jamie Lee reminded his players, “We’re playing pretty good, but all we’ve done to this point is irrelevant.”

Decatur (13-14) will play Florence at Bob Jones on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the single-elimination Class 6A, Area 15 tournament.

Hartselle (15-13) is preparing for its 5A, Area 15 tournament game against host Russellville on Friday.

“Everything you do this week is trying to get ready for next week,” Hartselle head coach Johnny Berry said. “We try to schedule quality people the week before area tournaments, and we did that. We take something out of this because we went down to the wire with them.”

Hartselle was up on Decatur 17-11 at the end of the opening quarter before the Red Raiders took control in the second for a 26-25 halftime lead.

“I thought in the first half, we played some pretty good defense, and Hartselle made some tough shots — to their credit,” Lee said.

Hartselle had the one-point advantage at 31-30 at the end of the third.

But the Red Raiders rallied, beating out Hartselle 27-2 from the free-throw line.

William Johnson headed the charge, hitting all seven free throws, including six in the fourth quarter.

“We started attacking the basket, and they had to foul,” Lee said.

Johnson had 20 points, four rebounds and four steals for Decatur. Torrick Spangler added 13 points and five rebounds.

Hartselle’s Sam Fleischman led all scorers with 22 points and four rebounds.

Hartselle was without one of its starters, Marquez Jones, who was at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., on a football recruiting visit, and three Tigers players played with four fouls in the fourth quarter.

Decatur won by 28 points at Hartselle earlier in the season.

“We came on the road and lost by six,” Berry said. “We don’t ever want to lose, but there’s something to be said for the way our guys played tonight.”

Decatur girls 47, Hartselle 43: The Lady Red Raiders beat Hartselle by 22 points in the season opener, but the task was much more difficult the second time around against an improved Lady Tigers team.

“Just the way the schedule worked out, we played them the first and last game of the year,” Decatur head coach Brad Boy said. “After the first time, I told our coaching staff, ‘This is going to be much harder at the end of the year.’ ”

And it was.

Clinging to a one-point lead with 1:05 left in the game, Decatur’s Britney McCloud drove the lane for a basket and then made two free throws with 42 seconds left. Her younger sister, Kendra McCloud, made a shot at the buzzer for the game’s final points.

Keeping Hartselle close late, Alex Holmes hit a pair of free throws down the stretch and Katie Young made one, but it wasn’t enough for the Lady Tigers.

“Coach (Gary) Orr has done a great job with them,” Boy said.

Decatur led 27-16 at halftime, but Hartselle outscored the Lady Red Raiders 15-4 in the third to tie the score at 31, heading into the fourth.

It was tied again at 38 midway through the fourth before a three-point play by Shannon Laughlin put Decatur up for good at 41-38.

Britney McCloud went for a season-high 28 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Laughlin scored nine points with eight rebounds for Decatur (17-14).

Britney McCloud and Whitney Fletcher have each surpassed the 1,000-point career record this season and are the first Lady Red Raiders to do so since Suzanne Stanley in 2006. McCloud reached the mark against Brewer on Jan. 10, and Fletcher hit the milestone Tuesday night against Madison Academy.

For Hartselle (13-14), Young had 16 points and eight rebounds, followed by Holmes’ 14 points, six rebounds and four steals. Callie Miller had 13 points, including making 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and swiping five steals.