Both Decatur Teams Lose at St. Pius

Suffering through a painstaking scoring drought, a stretch of over 16 minutes where they scored only seven points, Decatur High’s boys dropped a 40-28 decision at St. Pius X Tuesday night.

Tough defense was the order of the day.

Consider, for instance, that none of Decatur’s five guards who played Tuesday night scored a single point. Consider also the Pius, which racked up 62 points in the first meeting between these two, scored only 40 this time around.

Pius leading scorer Will Maguire averages 13 but was held to four. Pius didn’t have a field goal the entire fourth quarter and managed only nine in the game.

“Wow, is that right?” said the Pius coach, 25-year-old coach Aaron Parr. “None in the fourth quarter? That just shows how much [Decatur’s] improved since the last time [on Jan. 12]. They are going to be a very tough team to beat come tournament time.”

Meantime, an expected showdown between the top two girls teams in Region 6-AAA ultimately fizzled as Pius mostly dominated, 55-41. Asa Durr, ranked by some scouting services as the best sophomore guard in the country, had 21 points and five assists.

The boys game was an absolute defensive clinic, with Decatur playing mostly straight man-to-man, and occasional 1-3-1, while Pius played mostly a match-up zone. Baskets were parceled out with a Scrooge-like stinginess.

When Brett Riley hit a short banker with 4:05 left in the first half, Decatur led 15-14. When Pius’ Daniel Crochet hit a free throw at 3.27 this one was tied at 15, which eventually was the halftime score.

Decatur went on a 5:45 scoreless streak before Riley’s lefty low-post move put Decatur back ahead 17-16 with 6:20 left in the third.

Then Decatur really chilled out. Pius went on a 15-3 surge over the next eight minutes. Decatur was betrayed by its chronically inept shooting, going 11 for 50 from the field (22 percent) including 2 for 20 from three-point land.

Reserve post Noah Fisher hit both of Decatur's threes..

“I thought we got good shots,” said Decatur coach Charlie Copp. “You’re never gonna get an easy basket against their defense. But I thought at times we had good shots that all but went in.” 

Pius’ biggest weapon is 6-9 junior Nick Harris, who led all scorers with 14 points, but who’s even more valuable on the defensive end, blocking and altering shots.

With his long arms Harris allows his team to extend its defense to the perimeter, keeping pressure on the ball while making it nearly impossible, at least on Tuesday, to post up.

“They’re just fantastic with how physical they are,” Copp said.

A 23 free throw differential proved impossible to overcome. Decatur made all four of its foul shots, but Pius went 20 for 27 (75 percent) for the night and hit 11 of 13 in the fourth quarter.

Cordele Jackson led Decatur with 12 points, although half of those came in the final 3:49 when the lead was double digits. Noah Fisher played one his best games ever, coming off the bench to get eight points and six rebounds.

Decatur is 13-9 and 4-7, while Pius remains second in the region at 16-6 and 9-2. This is the same Pius team that two years ago went 1-24.

The girls game never featured any drama. Pius raced to a 15-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back. Jordan Dillard had 21 points, and Kori Anderson 11, but the Lady Bulldogs, like the boys, crumbled from poor shooting. They hit 16 of 58 from the field (28 percent and 4 of 15 (27 percent) from the foul line.

Junior Jasmine Carter had 13 for Pius while senior Laura Redmond added 11. Decatur is now 16-6 and 9-2 while St. Pius X is 19-3 and 11-0.

Next up is Cross Keys at home Friday, the girls at 5:30 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m.