Chester Boys Basketball advances to round two

Report by Terry Thomas

The Chester Clippers (21-6) moves on to the 2nd Round in the State Tournament with a 72-53 victory over the Milton Hershey Spartans (21-6). Chester will face Hershey who upset District-1 Champion Penncrest; the game will be played on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Senior Ahrod Carter showed no effects of the flu he suffered during the week off exploding with career high of 27 points. Carter connected on his first ten shots ending the game shooting 7/9 from behind the arc and 10/13 overall. His 7 three pointers tied the school record with Noel Wilmore and Darrin Govens. Junior Brian Randolph III scored first for the Clippers and after treys from Jamar Sudan and Carter (2), the timeout from the Spartans at the 5:01 mark was the only way to stop the 11-2 Clipper run. The Clippers would answer the timeout with a free throw from Randolph, a floater from sophomore Jaimhy Evans and four points from Sudan giving them a 21-10 first quarter advantage. Sophomore Michael Smith while performing an outstanding defensive job on Dan'Yae Baylor-Carroll the Spartans leading scorer holding him to just 4 first half points led the way in the 2nd quarter with 5 points including the trey that gave the Clippers their largest lead of the first half at 29-14 forcing another Spartans timeout at the 4:49 mark. Chester took a 35-23 lead into intermission. While Carter and Randolph was scoring from distance (treys), Sudan and Camper who was also out last week due to illness were knocking down shots inside the paint (4 points apiece). Smith meanwhile took a break from his defensive assignment holding Baylor-Carroll scoreless in the 3rd to drop in a mid-range jumper. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Chester - 54, Milton Hershey - 35. The Clippers maintained their focus offensive in the final 8 minutes producing 18 points to secure the victory. Baylor-Carroll did manage to score 5 points in the 4th to finish with 9 points well below his 19.6 average.

The Clippers put four players in double digits; joining Carter was Sudan (15), Smith (10) and Camper (10). Randolph fell just short of double figures with 8 points. Sudan had a double double hauling in 19 rebounds. Smith had a complete game coupling his defensive performance with 5 assists and a career tying 7 rebounds. Randolph filled his stat sheet with 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. In addition to his 27 points, Carter contributed 3 assists and 4 rebounds. Camper had a productive evening with 1 assist, 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots giving him a career total of 128 moving him ahead of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (127). Although he did not score, junior Timothy Johnston who started in place of Camper contributed 2 rebounds and a steal.

The Chester Clippers will take on the Hershey Trojans out of District 3 in the 2nd Round of the PIAA AAAAA State Tournament. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14th at Pottstown High School. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m.

*Chester Clippers Playoff Game Rescheduled

Due to the inclement weather forecast, the Chester vs. Milton Hershey PIAA State AAAAA Tournament's 2nd Round game originally scheduled for Tuesday, March 14th has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 16th at 5:00 p.m. The game site will remain at Pottstown High School.