Chester Boys Basketball lost to Academy Park

By Terry Thomas

The Chester Clippers were sunk by a trey at the buzzer and lose their second consecutive Del Val League contest to the Academy Park Knights 51-48. Sophomore Ahrod Carter thought he had given Chester the lead 49-48 with a trey with 14 seconds remaining in the contest but the referee changed the basket to a two which set the stage for the shocking results. After the Knights initial shot bounced long, it was retrieved and resulted in the winning basket. It's gonna take some serious research to determine the last time Chester loss back-to-back league games. The loss also put the Del Val League Championship up for grabs as Glen Mills is the only team with one league loss. After playing an outstanding defensive first half limiting the Knights to just 14 points, seven in each quarter, the Clippers held a slim 20-14 lead at the intermission. Maurice Henry led the way scoring 10 of his team high 14 points in that first half. Maurice would finish the contest with a double-double having hauled in 10 rebounds. He also rejected four shots. The Knights accuracy at the charity stripe in the 3rd quarter, 7 of 8, allowed them to cut into Chester's lead despite 5 points each from Keyonte Watkins and Marquis Collins. Collins notched a career high of 5 blocked shots to go along with his 3 assists and 5 rebounds. Marquis ended the contest with 9 points. The Clippers led 36-32 going into the final quarter. Chester's defensive woes continued as the gave up a 10-2 run and found themselves trailing 38-42. Chester continued to fight even after several failed attempts at the free throw line. Maurice Henry connected on two free throws to put Chester within two, 43-45, with 1:28 remaining. Academy Park hit an open trey and the Jamar Sudan made 1 of 2 free throws followed by a floater by Carter and again the Clippers were within two, 46-48, with 0:27 remaining. The Knights drew blanks on their next two foul shots leading to Carter's jumper near the top of the key with 14 seconds remaining. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Carter finished with 8 points, followed by Watkins (7), Jordan Camper (4) and three points from both Jahmi Bailey and Jamar Sudan.

The Clippers, 11-7 overall and 5-2 in league play, will return to action on Thursday, January 29th when they return home to the 'Clip Joint' to take on the visiting Chichester Eagles in a must win contest if Chester hopes to at least share the 2015 Del Val League Championship.