Sunday, December 9, 2018

Chester High School boys basketball fall season opener 2018


By Terry Thomas

The Clippers (0-1) missed the mark in their 2018-19 season home-opener falling to the Glasgow (DE) Dragon (1-1) 61-54 in the 6th Annual Fred Pickett Classic. Shooting 10/21 and connecting on 2 of 7 free throws coupled with missed defensive assignments, Chester found themselves in a 22-34 deficit at halftime. Mark Bradshaw led the Dragons with 15 of his team high 23 points and David Nichols scored all 13 of his points at the break. Meanwhile sophomore Karell Watkins led the Clippers with 8 first half points. The Clippers came out in the 3rd quarter with a better defensive stance limiting the Dragons to 11 points but were only able to draw three points closer 36-45 at the end of the quarter. Their woeful shooting continued as they connect on just 5 of 16 field goal attempts. They did however improve to 4 of 5 from the free throw line.  The 4th quarter was similar to the 3rd as the Clippers only allow three made field goals from the Dragon but they did connect on 10 of 20 free throws to secure the win. At the same time the Clippers remained as cold as the December air outside the Clip Joint where they struggled to go 7/23 from the field and 4/9 at the free throw line.

Their poor shooting resulted in missing all 11 three pointers and with that stopping the School's Record for Consecutive Games with At Least 1 Three Pointer at 152 games. The streak began against West Chester's Bayard Rustin on February 13, 2013.

Sophomore Karell Watkins and senior Rahmaad DeJarnette spear-headed the second half attack with 17 and 11 points respectively as they were the only Clippers in double figures. Watkins finished with game and career highs of 25 points and 20 rebounds. Dejarnette joined him with 15 points. The remaining Clippers points came from Michael Smith (6), Akeem Taylor Jr. (4), Zahmir Carroll (3) and Rahmee Gilbert (1).

Chester will look to rebound from this outing on Tuesday, December 11th when they travel to West Chester to take on the Bayard Rustin Knights. This will be a Varsity only affair with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Footnote: Coach Taylor has added Marvin Dukes Sr. to his coaching staff. The name is familiar to the Clipper family as Marvin was the former Girls Basketball Head Varsity Coach here at "The High".

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