BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s boys’ varsity basketball team advanced to the 3A-East Region championship game for the third year in a row with a scintillating 60-45 win over Chesapeake of Anne Arundel County at home on Wednesday, thanks it large part to a game for the ages from one of its top seniors.
The Seahawks were the top seed in the 3A-East Section II bracket and cruised past Northeast, 65-48, in the second round on Monday. Meanwhile, Chesapeake edged second-seeded Bennett in another second-round game to advance. The pair of second-round games on Monday set up what appeared, on paper at least, to be mismatch in the 3A-East Section II final at Decatur with the 16-7 Seahawks facing the 6-17 Cougars. For the better part of three quarters, it was far from a mismatch.
Decatur held a tenuous 15-13 lead but the Cougars battled back and tied the game at 24-24 at the half. The big home crowd was decidedly quiet at the intermission with the heavily-favored Seahawks tied with Chesapeake in the regional semifinal game. It didn’t get any louder through the first part of the third quarter as the Cougars came out of the break with a quick layup to take a 26-24 lead, followed by a long three-pointer to extend the lead to 29-24.
After a free throw by Decatur center Churchill Bounds cut the lead to 29-25, Chesapeake went right back down and scored again to push it to 31-25. That’s when Decatur senior Kevon Voyles started taking over. Voyles got a steal and hit Tahjeem Woodland with a nice pass to cut the lead to 31-27. Voyles then got another steal and took it to the hole himself with a resounding dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.
Chesapeake answered with a long three-pointer, followed by a couple of free throws to push the lead back to 36-31 with about three minutes left in the third. After Bounds went down with a knee injury, Voyles made to foul shots to cut the lead to 36-33. He then stole the ball and converted a fast-break layup to cut the lead to 36-35. Voyles repeated the same sequence on Chesapeake’s next possession and the Seahawks had their first lead since the second quarter at 37-36. It was a lead they would never relinquish.
With just over minute left the third, Voyles Mihail Beja in the corner and the senior side-stepped a leaping defender and calmly nailed a three-pointer to extend the lead to 40-36. Another layup by Voyles with off a nice assist by Beja put the Seahawks up 42-37 at the end of the third quarter.
To start the fourth quarter, Voyles found Beja in the corner again and Beja knocked down another three from almost the exact spot to extend the lead to 45-37. Voyles punctuated the epic second half run with a monster jam over a Chesapeake defender with about three minutes remaining that brought the crowd to its feet again. Voyles finished with 36 points as the Seahawks closed it out, 60-45. With the win, Decatur will host the 3A-East Region championship game for the third straight year on Friday night against Centennial.
