Pocomoke Pulls Away from Seahawks

BERLIN- It was a tale of two halves in Tuesday's showdown between the Stephen Decatur and Pocomoke varsity boys' basketball teams on Tuesday with the visiting Seahawks winning an early battle but losing the war to the Warriors, 62-47.

Something had to give when Decatur visited Pocomoke on the Warriors' new gym floor on Tuesday night. The Seahawks entered the contest with a 6-2 record including a perfect 5-0 mark in the Bayside Conference, their only losses coming during the big holiday tournament in Salisbury last week. Meanwhile, Pocomoke came into the game with a perfect 6-0 mark including a 4-0 record in the Bayside.

The Seahawks got off to a quick start and led 8-0 before the big home crowd had even settled into their seats. Pocomoke recovered from its early malaise and the two teams swapped points for much of the rest of the first quarter, which ended with Decatur leading 14-8 after one. In the second quarter, Pocomoke continued to crash the boards, which eliminated a lot of second shot chances for the Seahawks and created easy scoring opportunities for the Warriors down the other end of the court.

Pocomoke continued to chip away at the Decatur lead throughout the second quarter and cut it to just three points at 28-25 by halftime. In the third, the Seahawks finally relinquished the lead as Pocomoke continued to force its up tempo offense. Meanwhile, the Warriors also continued its concerted effort to shut down Decatur's prolific scorer Cedric Johnson to force other Seahawks to make big plays.

As a result, Decatur scored just 19 points in the entire second half including just four in the fourth quarter. Pocomoke, which had scored 25 points in the first half, poured in 37 in the second half to blow by the Seahawks and pull away for the 15-point win at 62-47. The win put Pocomoke on top in the Bayside South with a perfect 4-0 mark, while Decatur slipped to second with a 5-1 conference record.

The Seahawks face always-tough Wicomico next Tuesday before another tough game against Kent County next Thursday. Decatur will get another shot at Pocomoke at home on February 4.