The Decatur boys basketball team appeared to be on the way to a blowout loss to visiting James Clemens.

Then suddenly the shots started falling.

The Red Raiders overcame a 15-point third quarter deficit to beat Class 6A, Area 16 rival James Clemens 54-46 on Tuesday.

Decatur improved to 9-12 overall and 2-3 in the area with the win. The Red Raiders can still finish as high as second place in the area by beating Florence at home on Friday.

Cameron Twitty scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half to spark the comeback.

NaVante Williams scored 13 points and Chandler Boy added 11.

Josh Mitchell led Clemens with 12 points. Alfonso Johnson and Dale Boyd each finished with 11.

Decatur coach Jamie Lee credited the offense for making big shots down the stretch.

“We made a few shots,” Lee said. “We made some timely threes.”

Twitty came up big in crunch time as he attacked the rim for several big hoops.

“My teammates told me to be confident in my shot,” Twitty said.

Boy and Sean Elliot made back-to-back treys to trim the Clemens lead to nine after the Jets went up by 15 in the third. Kaleb Smith’s three-pointer tied the game at 39 apiece with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter.

“Jaylen Hampton and Juwan Porter gave us a lift on both ends of the court,” Lee added.

While Lee pointed out the turnaround on offense for the comeback, Twitty looked to the other end of the court.

“It was defense,” Twitty said. “In the first half we were kind of slacking on defense.”

With Decatur trailing 29-20 at halftime, Twitty said the team used the intermission to emphasize the need to play better defensively to get back in the game.

Clemens dropped to 14-ll and 3-2 in the area. The Jets will host Austin on Friday. The winner of that game will claim the regular season area title and host the area tournament on Feb. 8 and 11.

James Clemens girls 41, Decatur 22: Constance Steele led Decatur with 10 points. Taneisha Johnson finished with nine.

China Leary scored a game-high 15 points for Clemens.

Decatur trailed by one after the opening quarter and by five at halftime. Clemens outscored the Lady Raiders 19-4 to close out the game.

It came down to the story of our season...too many turnovers,” Decatur coach Brad Boy said.

Boy said the Lady Raiders needed to get healthier and take better care of the ball in order to be prepared for the area tournament.

“This is a tournament sport,” Boy pointed out. “Everybody is even again.”

James Clemens improved to 4-1 in the area and can tie Austin by beating the Lady Bears on Friday. The tie-breaker would be decided by a coin toss.