BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s boys’ varsity basketball team’s dream of a state championship ended with a 63-46 loss to Baltimore’s Poly in the semifinals last Thursday, but the loss did little to tarnish what was a remarkable run by the Seahawks this year.
The Seahawks reached the state’s Final Four for the third straight year with a win 60-51 win over Centennial in the 3A-East Region championship. The regional championship sent Decatur back to the University of Maryland and the state Final Four for the third straight year, but looming in the semifinals was Poly, which had eliminated the Seahawks in the prior year.
Poly featured a starting line-up of players all over 6’4” including Demetrius Mims, who might have been the best player in the state tournament. Decatur countered with a much smaller line-up led by Kevon Voyles, who carried the team through the post-season and the run-up to the Final Four. Both players lived up to expectations in the state semifinal game, but in the end, Poly was just too big and too athletic for the Seahawks.
Decatur trailed 14-3 about halfway through the first quarter, but kept battling and trailed 21-9 at the end of the period. Poly started pulling away in the second quarter and were doubling up the Seahawks with a 38-19 lead at the half.
There was no quit in the Seahawks, however, who continued to battle despite being outplayed and overmatched. Decatur might have been overmatched, but they were never out-hustled in the game. Poly had built its lead to 51-28 after three quarters, but the Seahawks had one more big push in them.
Poly led 54-32 with about six minutes left in the game, but the Seahawks kept coming, turned up the defense and started to get some shots to fall. Decatur’s last push cut the Poly lead to 58-45 with about two minutes left in the game, but that was as close as the Seahawks would get as the Engineers closed out the state semifinal, 63-46. Poly went on to win the state 3A championship, beating Millford Mill, 49-47, in the title game.
Poly’s Mims led all scorers with 30 points, while Voyles led the Seahawks with 19. Shamir Church had seven points for the Seahawks, while Hayden Frazier added six and Ryan Danaher and Tah’jeem Woodland pitched in four.
For Decatur, the loss ended a third straight bid for a state championship. Last year, the Seahawks fell to Poly in the 3A semifinals, 74-44. Despite losing a ton of talent to graduation last year, Coach B.J. Johnson got the most out of his players and the Seahawks put together a late-season run to advance in the state playoffs. Johnson had high praise for his team in a post-game press conference.
‘’Our kids left it all on the floor,” he said. “We’re excited to be here, but the ultimate goal is to win. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short, but I want to give all the credit to my kids for playing hard and never giving up.”
Voyles was Decatur’s senior captain and leader and almost single-handedly got the Seahawks back to College Park and the Final Four. With his team trailing in the sectional final to Chesapeake, Voyles took over and propelled the Seahawks back to the regional championship. The same scenario played out in the regional championship as Voyles scored 38 points, 24 of which came in the second half. In the post-game press conference, Voyles thanked his coach and his teammates for the remarkable late-season run and return to the Final Four.
“We really wanted this one,” he said. “I really want to thank Coach Johnson. We’ve been one of the top four teams each year and he helped us do that.”
Johnson said his team faced adversity through much of the season, battling injuries and overcoming other obstacles to get back to the regional championship and return to the Final Four for the third straight year. Johnson and his coaches got the most out of his players when it counted the most.
“These kids really came together as a team,” he said. “We always preach it’s a team game, but Kevon is our leader.”
At the end of the day, Poly was just too much for Decatur and the Seahawks bowed out, but not before putting up a fight in the state semifinal game. Johnson was quick to praise his players for battling and not giving up and had high praise for his opponent.
“It just wasn’t enough,” he said. “Give credit to Poly. They’re big and athletic and we just weren’t able to overcome their athleticism.”
