Clippers sailed by the Patriots

 

By Terry Thomas

Chester used a 21-8 second quarter outburst to secure a 74-56 Del Val League win over the visiting Penn Wood Patriots. With the win the Clippers are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in Del Val League action. Chester led 9-8 at the 3:20 mark in the first quarter followed by a Penn Wood 10-2 run. Fareed Burton Jr would hit a trey as the 1st quarter buzzer sounded and the Clippers looking up at a 14-18 deficit.

The Clippers locked on defensively in the second quarter and ran off with a 14-0 run taking a 28-18 lead before the visitors finally scored at the 2:40 mark. Five Clippers combined producing their 21-point quarter led by seniors Fareed Burton Jr and the reigning Delco Player of the Year Karell Watkins with 6 points each. Senior Jameel Burton Jr contributed 4 points followed by juniors Qadir Lowrie and Isaiah Freeman with 3 and 2 points respectively. Chester went into intermission leading 35-26.

In the third quarter, Chester maintained their defensive pressure and dominance on the boards limiting the Patriots to one shot at the baskets thereby increasing their lead to 14 points, 50-36, at the end of the period. Penn Wood had no answer for Watkins who added 7 of his teams 15 third quarter points.

With the Burton cousins resting as the fourth quarter began, junior Isaiah Freeman made his presence on the defensive end hauling in 3 of his 5 steals resulting in the Clippers lead of 56-38 at the 5:50 mark. Freeman finished the contest scoring 2 points to go along with his steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Watkins dominated once again with 14 of his game high 31 points, just one shy of his career high. Senior Shaquan Horsey contributed 7 of his 8 points in the fourth including a rim shaker dunk with 11.7 remaining. With about 15 seconds on the clock he stole the ball, took it the length of the court and rose for the dunk before falling hard on his back.

Fareed Burton Jr and Jamell Burton Jr joined Watkins in double figures with 16 and 11 points respectively. Fareed had an overall strong game accounting for 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot (the teams only one) and 1 assist. He hounded the Patriots guard totally disrupting their offense. Qadir Lowrie finished the contest and the team's scoring with 6 points. The team finished with 14 steals and 14 assists on 28 made baskets. They also collected 35 rebounds with 20 coming off the offensive glass.

The Clipper next contest will be on Tuesday, February 2nd with Del Val League foe Chichester Eagles visit the Clip Joint. The game originally scheduled for Saturday, January 30th against Arundel Christian School (Hanover, Md) was cancelled as the team is not allowed to travel outside of Maryland due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

JV GAME SUMMARY

The Chester JV dropped suffered their first loss of the season 51-50 at the hands of the Penn Wood Patriots. Freshman Kyree Womack led the way with 13 points. The young Clippers trailed 11-9 after the first, 27-24 at the intermission and 43-39 at the end of the third. The other Clipper contributors were Samaad Powell and Hamza Clay-Goudelock with 9 points, Yinka Itabiyi with 7, Dante Payne (5), Dominic Toy with 4 and Tahkel Walker completing the scoring with 3 points.

Note:  The Patriots "Varsity Players" playing JV contributed 43 of their 51 points.