BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s boys’ varsity basketball team stayed on a major roll this week, beating Crisfield, 66-54, on Tuesday to improve to 15-1 on the season.
The Crabbers hung around with the Seahawks for much of the contest, but Decatur cranked it up when needed as they typically do this season with pressure defense and timely offense from a variety of sources. With the win, the Seahawks improved to 15-1 on the season, their only loss coming to Virginia powerhouse Potomac in a holiday tournament, and recorded their 19th straight home win.
Decatur crashed the boards all night on both ends of the floor, as evidenced by this sequence that showed Churchill Bounds, Gary Briddell and Keve Aluma gaining position on Crisfield.
Photo by Shawn Soper
The two teams swapped baskets for the most part throughout the first quarter with neither getting any major separation. A jumper by Decatur’s Demond Mills with around two minutes left in the first gave the Seahawks their largest early lead at 18-13, but Crisfield answered with a jumper of its own at the buzzer to cut the lead to 18-15.
Crisfield scored the first two baskets of the second quarter to briefly take a 19-18 lead before Decatur went on a mini-run. Matt Kristick scored a layup in heavy traffic to put Decatur ahead, 20-19, with just over five minutes remaining. Gary Briddell then went strong to the hole to extend the lead to 22-19. A fast-break layup followed by a rebound and put-back by Keve Aluma pushed the lead to 26-19 with just over two minutes left in the second. Another basket by Aluma extended the lead to 28-19, but Crisfield scored the last three baskets in the final minute of the half to cut the lead to 28-25 at intermission.
The two teams went back and forth through much of the third quarter, but Decatur could never quite pull away from the pesky Crabbers. A mini-run fueled by Briddell and Aluma pushed the Decatur lead to 38-30, but Crisfield scored three straight baskets in one sequence including a three-pointer to cut the lead to 38-37. The two teams swapped baskets in the final minute of the third quarter, which ended with Decatur hanging on to a precarious 40-39 lead.
In the fourth, Voyles and La’Ron Johnson helped fuel a run by the Seahawks that extended the lead to 52-41. Crisfield hit back-to-back three-pointers and another layup to cut the lead to 52-49, but Voyles took over down the stretch and the Seahawks cruised to the 66-54 win.