Thursday, December 26, 2019

Clippers Bounce Back with an Overtime Win


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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