BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity basketball team rode strong second and third quarter and another outstanding performance by senior Keyon Eley to roll past visiting Mardela, 71-48, on Tuesday at home to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Decimated by graduation and transfers, Decatur opened the 2014-2015 campaign with a young and inexperienced, but very athletic team and the Seahawks have shown promise through the first two game of the season. In the opener last week, Decatur rolled past North Caroline, 55-27. Eley led all scorers with 15 points, while Karon Purnell added 11 points and Keve Aluma grabbed 14 rebounds.
At home in front of a big crowd on Tuesday, Decatur got out to an early lead, withstood a few mini-runs by the Warriors and held on for the 71-48 win to improve to 2-0. Decatur jumped out to an early lead and led 12-4 at the end of the first quarter. At the start of the second, Decatur’s Ja’Ron Johnson nailed a three-pointer from the top to extend the lead to 15-4, but Mardela answered with a three of its own to cut the lead to 15-7.
A fast-break layup by Johnson and a put-back by Aluma extended Decatur’s lead to 19-7 in the second. Johnson then hit a runner with 2:18 remaining in the half, followed by a layup by Tyree Henry and the Seahawks led 24-9 with time running down in the second. Eley then scored on a fast-break to extend the lead to 26-11, and a short time later completed a three-point play to push it to 29-11. Mardela went to the line with one second left in the first half and hit the front end, then converted a put-back on the missed second free throw to cut the lead to 29-14 at the intermission.
Early in the third, Decatur’s Kevin Land completed a three-point play to extend the lead to 32-16, but Mardela answered with a long three-pointer to cut the deficit to 32-19. Aluma went strong to the hole to extend the lead to 34-19, then scored on a put-back to push it to 36-23. A Mardela three-point play cut the lead to 38-26, but Aluma scored on a dunk to push the lead back to 40-26 with under three minutes remaining in the third.
Eley then took over for a pivotal stretch in the latter part of the third quarter. Twice he scored on fast break layups to push the lead to 44-26. Eley then scored on a remarkable reverse layup that brought the crowd to its feet and was fouled. He completed the three-point play to extend the lead to 47-26 with just over two minutes left in the third.
After a Mardela basket, Eley broke away for a dunk that again brought the Seahawk faithful to its feet. A layup by Tymeire Conway and a steal and layup by Johnson extended the lead to 53-28 at the end of three.
Land hit a three-pointer to start the fourth and Eley converted a steal with a dunk to push Decatur’s lead to 63-30 early in the fourth. Mardela regrouped a little in the fourth and started to chip away at the Decatur lead. A Mardela three-pointer cut the Seahawk lead to 69-48 with about two minutes left, but Decatur made its free throws down the stretch and pulled away for the 71-48 win.