Chester Clippers Boys Basketball falls in overtime

By Terry Thomas

The Chester Clippers record dropped to 1-3 falling short in overtime 59-68 to the visiting Sanford Warriors (1-1) in the nightcap of the 2nd Annual Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Classic. After Duke signee, 6'8" Ninanna Njoku, opened the contest with a trey, Chester's Brian Randolph III responded with a trey and the game was on. Sanford answered with two free throws followed by a free throw from Michael Smith and another bucket from Randolph and the Clippers had their first lead of the night 6-5. Sophomore Rahmee Gilbert contributed an old fashioned three point play (his only points of the game) and Smith dropped in 3 more points to give the Clippers the 13-10 advantage after the first quarter. Junior Rahmaad DeJarnette made his presence felt in the 2nd quarter contributing his only 6 points to go along with 4 key rebounds (he would finish the game with 8). Sophomores Zahmir Carroll and Malik Langley each added two points in the quarter to hold off the Warriors and the Clippers took a 25-23 lead into intermission.

The Clippers opened the 3rd quarter on a 11-4 run fueled by juniors Smith and Rahnel Sparks with 7 and 4 points respectively. Chester would go scoreless in their last five possessions which allowed the Warriors to close the gap to 40-37. Rahmaad DeJarnette would not be available for the remainder of the contest after twisting his ankle at the 5:20 mark in the 3rd quarter. He finished the contest with 6 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. The teams exchanged buckets to open the fourth quarter with Sanford taking the lead briefly at 48-47 before Randolph's put back on a Langley miss gave the Clippers the lead once again 49-48 with 2:54 remaining. Two possessions later, Michael Smith dropped a dime to Randolph to push the lead to 51-48 with 2:02 on the clock. Zahmir Carroll answered Sanford's score with a short jumper to put the margin back at three points 53-50 at the 1:12 mark. After Sanford scored, Chester called for a timeout with 38.9 seconds left in the contest; Randolph responded with his 8th point of the quarter to give the Clippers a 55-52 lead with 22 seconds remaining in the contest. However, after player good defense for 21 seconds, the Clippers left a Warrior with an open look and he drained a trey to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime period there was no wind in the Clippers sails as the Warriors pulled away 13-4 for the wind.

Brian Randolph III lead the way for the Clippers with 18 points, 4 assists and 2 steals with Smith joining him in double figures with 17 and 3 assists. Carroll finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds, DeJarnette (6), Sparks (4), Gilbert (3), Langley (2) and Timothy Johnson knocked down 1 of 2 free throws and hauled in 7 rebounds. The Clippers shared the ball to the tune of 16 assists on 25 made baskets.

The Clippers will return to action next Friday, December 29th when they travel to Philadelphia University to take on Coatesville in the Pete & Jameer Nelson Holiday Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.