Decatur High head coach Jamie Lee may have to award jerseys and spots on his team to some students after Friday night’s 42-41 victory over Sparkman.

With its team ahead by one with eight-tenths of a second left and Sparkman’s Danny Pace shooting a one-and-one, a group of about 10 Decatur students made the play of the game.

Standing a few feet behind the center of the baseline, they yelled as loudly as possible, waved their arms in the air and distracted Pace enough that his shot bounced off the back of the rim to ensure the Red Raiders’ victory.

“I need to get those guys out here all the time,” Lee said. “That was awesome.”

Decatur’s William Johnson persuaded one of his classmates to start the noisy commotion.

“I told him to get everybody to jump up and down. They did,” said Johnson, who made a pair of free throws six seconds earlier that proved to be the game-winning points.

Decatur’s Torrick Spangler was whistled for a questionable foul to send Pace to the free-throw line.

Sparkman inbounded the ball with six seconds remaining and drove the length of the court, where Pace received a pass on the wing and sprinted to the hoop.

Along the way, he appeared to make minor contact with Spangler, who immediately protested his foul.

“In my opinion, (the official) didn’t make the right call,” Lee said. “When it doesn’t look like a foul or it may be a hand check, I think you have to let the kids win the game. You’ve got to be sure it’s a foul in that situation.”

Sparkman went ahead 41-40 on Victor Marshall’s 3-pointer with 13.9 seconds remaining, but Decatur took the lead on the ensuing possession on Johnson’s free throws.

Johnson inbounded the ball to Spangler, who brought the ball down the court.

Spangler, at the top of the key, passed back to Johnson, who drove the lane and drew contact. The foul was on the floor, and Johnson went to the line for a one-and-one.

For the night, Johnson made 9 of 12 foul shots.

“I was glad he was at the line in that situation,” Lee said.

Both teams traded the lead five times in the fourth quarter. Down by six fewer than one minute into the final period, Decatur (11-13, 3-5 in Class 6A, Area 15) went on an 8-0 scoring spurt to take a 37-35 lead.

In that stretch, Raheem England made two baskets, his last a product of one of his two steals.

Decatur played zone defense up until the final six seconds of a defensive-intense game.

“We felt like the only chance we had to beat them was to keep the score in the 40’s or maybe low 50’s. The zone helped us with that,” Lee said.

Johnson finished with a team-high 15 points, and England added 11 for the Red Raiders.

Anthony Orr led Sparkman (15-10) with 10 points.

Sparkman girls 73, Decatur 39: The Lady Red Raiders stayed with Sparkman for one quarter until the top-ranked team in Class 6A pulled away.

After the two teams played to a tie at the end of the first quarter, Sparkman (27-0) went on a 9-0 scoring run early in the second quarter that finished the Lady Red Raiders (15-13, 1-7).

“We played pretty well in the first quarter,” Decatur girls head coach Brad Boy said.

“When we played them in the Christmas tournament, we had the lead at the end of the first quarter. Tonight, it was tied up. We’ve got to be able to sustain that.”

Sparkman’s Adrienne Webb scored six straight points in that spurt and finished with a team-high 21 on 7-of-12 shooting.

“With her, it’s kind of like the Michael Jordan mentality when teams would play the Chicago Bulls,” Boy said. “You’re probably better off letting her get her points and trying to shut down everybody else. She’s one of the finest high school basketball players you’re ever going to see.”

But Decatur failed to shut down everybody else. The Sparkman girls got 21 points off their bench, compared to Decatur’s three.

Sparkman scored a lot of their points on transition baskets.

“When they end up coming down on us with two on one or three on two, they’ve got some dominant post players that just bury you in there,” Boy said. “That’s where we really got hurt tonight.”

Britney McCloud scored 24 of Decatur’s 39 points. Whitney Fletcher added eight.

Chatia Kelsey finished with 14 for the Lady Senators, and Jasmine Jones added 13.

Decatur returns to action Monday at home against Athens.