Chester High Boys Basketball start the New Year with a win

By Terry Thomas

The Clippers opened 2019 with a 72-49 win over Del Val League opponent Chichester Eagles. The victory pushed Chester to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in league play. Sophomore Karell Watkins led all scorers with a game high 16 points equally distributing 4 points in each quarter. Sophomore Fareed Burton Jr. was the 2nd Clipper in double figures establishing his career high with 11 points. Junior Akeem Taylor Jr. and senior Michael Smith joined in the double digit party with 10 points apiece. Taylor finished the contest with a double-double by cleaning the boards with 10 rebounds. Burton also matched his career high of 4 assists. Watkins filled the stat sheet with 5 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and a steal.

Rahmaad DeJarnette drew the defensive assignment of guarding the Eagles leading scorer, Josh Hankins, and performed the acme of his career holding him scoreless on the night. Hankins came into the game averaging just over 16 points a game. Meanwhile DeJarnette managed to add 8 points and 5 rebounds to the Clippers stat sheet.

Senior Christian Massena made the most of the minutes he saw in the 2nd and 4th quarters by scoring a career high 7 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and blocking a shot. With junior Rahmee Gilbert out with an ankle injury, Javan Graham took advantage of the available minutes and matched his career high of 6 points. He also added 3 rebounds and 1 steal to his line. Rahnell Sparks placed his name in the scoring column with 4 points to complete the Clippers scoring. Finally, 6'6" sophomore Shaquan Horsey gave the fans at the Clip Joint a peak of what the future holds securing the lane by establishing a career high of 4 blocked shots.

The Clippers led this contest from start to finish. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the first three quarters, the score read 19-10, 42-20 and 58-31. Eight of the eleven Clippers who saw action tonight put their name in the scoring column.

Chester will continue league play Thursday when they travel to Glenolden to take on the Interboro Bucs. The JV will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. with the Varsity to follow.