They have been playing boys basketball at Decatur High School ever since the doors opened back in 1973.

But during those 38 years, nobody involved in the basketball program have scored more points than current senior guard Jerron Smith. The 6-foot-3 Portland State University-signee overtook Marcus Tibbs to become the leading scorer in Gator basketball history last week by scoring 50 points during a pair of victories over Peninsula and Bonney Lake.

Friday’s 74-54 win over Bonney Lake moved Decatur to 2-0 in the South Puget Sound League 3A Division and 6-3 overall and sets up a huge early-season matchup with the Lakes Lancers Friday night in Lakewood. The Lancers (6-1) are currently ranked third in 3A and the favorites to win the SPSL 3A Division.

The Gators struggled early Friday against Bonney Lake on their home court. The Panthers jumped out to an early 16-15 lead after the first quarter. But Decatur took over from there, outscoring Bonney Lake, 59-38, during the final three quarters.

Dom Hunter and Markus Rawls joined Smith in double digits. Hunter finished with 19 points and Rawls, a point guard, chipped in 12 to go along with Smith’s 29 points and 10 rebounds. The game was Rawls’ first of the season for the Gators.

“He makes a big difference for us,” said head coach Kevin Olson. “We’ll find out how big this Friday at Lakes.”

As far as Smith goes, he entered the 2010-11 season as the third-leading scorer in Decatur history behind Tibbs (1,223 points) and Quincy Wilder (1,131). Tibbs scored his points in four seasons, while Wilder played only three years for the Gators.

This is Smith’s fourth season at Decatur and he is currently averaging a robust 28.2 points this season, including 44 in a Dec. 22 win over Wenatchee. He now has 1,261 points in his career.

Smith is also on pace to set the Decatur single-season scoring record. Wilder tallied 514 points in 1996 and Smith already has 310 points with nine games remaining in the regular season.

As a junior, Smith was a first-team, All-South Puget Sound League South Division selection after leading Decatur in scoring at 20.9 points a game. He failed to score in double digits just once. In fact, during the last three seasons, Smith has scored in double figures in 69 of his 71 games.

Smith, who also sports a 3.8 grade-point average, choose Portland State over schools like Lehigh, San Diego, Montana State, UC Davis and the University of Portland, among others. But Portland State always had the inside edge. Smith’s father played basketball at the school during the mid-1970s.

In other boys basketball action:

Federal Way 67, at Beamer 43 — The Eagles snapped a two-game, SPSL South losing streak Friday night with a lopsided win over the Titans at Beamer. The win improved Federal Way to 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the SPSL South.

The Eagles blew open a fairly close game in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Titans, 21-8, during the eight minutes.

Federal Way got 18 points from senior guard Jerry Duckworth, 14 from sophomore D’Londo Tucker and 11 from Deonte Anderson during the win. The game also marked the return of senior guard Deshea Bell, who averaged 20 points last year at Kennedy. Bell has played in only three games this season and had six points against the Titans.

Beamer (3-7, 2-5) was led by the 19 points of Terrance Salazar and got 11 from Mac Gridley.

Kentlake 55, at Jefferson 43 — The Raiders remained winless in the SPSL North Division with the loss to the Falcons Friday night at TJ.

Kentlake (3-4, 6-5) outscored Jefferson 34-14 during the second half after the Raiders took an early 22-12 lead after the first quarter.

Jefferson (0-7, 3-8) was led by the 14 points of senior Chase Braxmeyer and nine from Danny Park.