By Terry Thomas
Chester (4-1) returned
to their winning ways with a thrilling 79-74 overtime victory over the host
Southern (South Philly) Rams. It's said that a basketball game is made up of
"Series of Runs" and never were more truer words spoken as it relates
to tonight's game. The Clippers trailed 0-4 before going on a 13-0 run. The
Rams closed the 1st quarter with a 9-2 run. Chester led 15-13. Akeem Taylor Jr
and Karell Watkins led with way with 6 points each and junior point guard Fareed
Burton Jr started the scoring with a trey.
In the 2nd quarter,
Chester led 24-22 at the 3:25 mark before Southern finished the quarter with a
21-4 sprint. It was Chester - 28, Southern - 43. Senior Rahmee Gilbert's nine
coupled with two each from Taylor and Watkins kept it that close.
At the 3:10 mark in the
3rd quarter, the Clippers were now facing a 14-point deficit, 38-52. They
responded by turning up both the offensive and defensive intensity
resulting in a 17-3 run to take the lead at the end of the quarter.
Chester - 55, Southern - 54. Gilbert scored 10, Taylor - 9 and 4 each from
Burton and Watkins fueled the Clippers.
The teams settled down
in the final 8 minutes not allowing a single run. Both teams enjoyed their
largest lead of the quarter at four points. Trailing 65-68 with 22.5 seconds
remaining in the quarter, Burton connected on 1 of 2 free throws to pull the
Clippers with 2 at 66-68. After a steal and turnover by the Clippers, the Rams
countered hitting 1 of 2 free throw for a 66-69 advantage with 0:08.1 seconds
remaining. Chester pushed the ball up court and found Taylor sitting in the
left and he calmly drained the trey as the buzzer sounded sending the game into
overtime.
Chester started the four-minute
overtime with a 6-0 run led by Taylor (4) and Gilbert (2). The Rams finally
scored their first point with 1:52 remaining. The Clippers pressure forced
several Rams turnovers during the overtime and Chester led 79-72 with 4.2
seconds. The Rams scored at the one second mark for the final score.
The Clippers starting
five produced all their points in the contest led by a Clippers career high of
24 points for Akeem Taylor Jr. Taylor scored 35 points in a contest while
attending the Chester Charter High School during his sophomore season. Rahmee
Gilbert also recorded his career high with 23 points including connecting on 11
of 13 free throws. Fareed Burton Jr joined in the party with a career high of
13 points. Karell Watkins made his presence felt with another double double
consisting of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Zahmir Carroll completed with
scoring with 6 crucial fourth quarter points.
The Clippers will enjoy
the Christmas break before returning to action on Saturday, December 28th when
they take on West Chester East in the 15th Annual Pete Nelson Holiday Classic
on the campus of West Chester University. Tip-off is slated for 6:15 p.m.
JV GAME RECAP
The Chester JV team
improved their record to 3-1 with smooth sailing as they breezed to a 62-34
defeat of the Southern Rams. All thirteen players that saw action were able to
put their names in the scoring column led by Yinka Itabiyi with 11 points. Also
scoring were Jermere Clark (8), Edward Harmon (7), William Smith (7), Lenny
Camacho (5), Donziar Ellis (5), Kareem Devore (5), Saahir McMillan (3) and Naim
Jenkins (3). Two points each was scored by Nasir Madison, Shaquan Horsey,
Keenan Warren and Andre Stewart.
The JV team returns to
action of Thursday, December 26th with they travel to West Chester University
to take on an unnamed opponent at 11:15 a.m. for the West Chester University JV
Holiday Classic.
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