Thanks for the great reports this basketball season by
Terry Thomas
The Chester Clippers
(21-7) season was cut short after falling 96-82 to the Coatesville (29-2) Red
Raiders before a standing room only crowd at Spring-Ford High School. The Fire
Marshall ordered the doors closed after reaching their capacity of 2,200
leaving several hundred fans with and without tickets on the outside. Those
arriving early enough to gain entry definitely got their money's worth as the
Coatesville back-court of juniors Dapree Bryant and Jhamir Brickus put on a
show combining for 31 of their 32 fourth quarter points and 74 of their 96. Oh,
by the way Brickus put up 52 points which is the most scored against the
Clippers since I've been associated with the program dating back to the 1990-91
season.
Chester stayed close in
the first quarter. With senior Michael Smith going to the bench after picking
up his 2nd person foul at the 4:27 mark, senior Rahmaad DeJarnette's led the
way with 5 points and the Clippers trailing only 13-17. The teams exchanged
baskets to begin the second quarter except it was 3 to 2 in Coatesville's favor
allowing them to pull away slowly. Smith returned in the 2nd quarter and his
basket at the 1:32 mark put Chester down 10, 23-33. Coatesville ending the
quarter with a 10-3 run; having scored on their each of their last four
possession while Chester scored once in their last three. Chester trailed 26-43
at the intermission.
Chester began the 3rd
quarter in typical Clippers fashion, pressure defense and increased offensive
efficiency resulting in a 15-5 run to get within seven at the 4:08 mark, 41-48.
Going scoreless on the next three possessions including two unforced turnovers
enabled Coatesville to increase their lead to 41-56. The Clippers stayed with
the Red Raiders the rest of the quarter not allowing them to pull further
ahead. Senior Javan Graham produced 4 of his 7 points and DeJarnette added 7 of
his 14 points during this stretch. The third quarter ended with Chester behind
49-64.
The Clippers fought hard
in the final 8 minutes putting up 33 points but it was not enough. Senior point
guard Michael Smith tried hard to bring his team back scoring 12 of his team
high 25 points in his last 8 minutes as a Clipper but it was not enough. Junior
Akeem Taylor Jr joined his teammate with 10 of his 17 and fellow junior Rahmee
Gilbert contributed 7 of his 9 points. Junior Zahmir Caroll finished the season
with 4 of his 9 points in the 4th. The Clippers strategy of fouling in the
quarter to save time did not pan out as Coatesville connected on 14 of 20 free
throw to secure the win.
The Clippers once again
displayed team basketball with three players in double figures - Smith (25),
Taylor (17) and DeJarnette (14), two players with nine points - Gilbert and
Carroll and Javan Graham with seven points. Senior Christian Massena connected
on 1 of 2 free throws for his final point as a Clipper. Carroll produced 10
rebounds falling just short of a double-double.
Michael Smith finishes
his career with 1,065 points placing him 26th on Chester's all-time list behind
Steve "Nurse" Miller (1,074). He surpassed his Coach, Keith Taylor
(1, 048) and brothers Rondae (1,056) and Rahlir (1,060) Jefferson along the
way. Since we've been collecting stats starting with the 1992-93 season,
Michael "Man-Man" Smith's number of points (1065), assists (266),
rebounds (257) and steals (106) makes him just the 5th Clipper player to
produce 1000 points and triple digit numbers in the other categories while
solely wearing the Chester uniform.
Thank you goes out to
this year's senior class of Rahmaad DeJarnette, Javan Graham, Christian Massena
and Michael Smith for their hard work and dedication. It was truly a pleasure
spending time with these young men. I wish them smooth sailing as they journey
onward.
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