Seahawks Fall in Challenge Cup Opener

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s boys’ varsity basketball team dropped its opening game in the 2nd Annual Governor’s Cup Holiday Basketball Tournament in Salisbury this week, falling to Sussex Central, 58-54, on Tuesday.

The Seahawks are competing in the M&T Bank Cup, featuring some of the top teams from Maryland’s Eastern Shore against a strong field of teams from Delaware with bragging rights and some symbolic desserts from each state on the line. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley issued a challenge to Delaware Gov. Jack Markel with a Smith Island cake and a Delaware peach pie at stake.

The tournament began on Tuesday and continued throughout the week. The original Governor’s Challenge Cup, started two years ago, featured the Maryland Eastern Shore versus the Delaware teams, but the format was changed this year to expand the field with several cups on the line.

For instance, the tournament now includes the Dr. Pepper 10 cup, featuring 10 of the top teams in Maryland from both sides of the Chesapeake, along with the East Coast Challenge, with four of the region’s top high school teams from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

On the tournament’s first day, Decatur fell to Sussex Central, 58-54, in a close game in the first round of the M&T Bank Cup. Maryland teams went 5-3 against Delaware teams on the tournament’s first day. Games were played practically around the clock all week at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center in each of the different sub-tournaments. Decatur plays again this afternoon against Woodbridge at 2 p.m. and the tournament concludes tonight.