Chester Comes Up Short Against the Keystone Academy Kings

By Terry Thomas

Chester falls to 5-3 after a 63-71 setback at the hands of the Keystone Academy Kings in the Hoops For Harmony: Stand Against Racism Showcase in Chambersburg, PA.  One thing is a definite when the Chester Clippers travel to a Showcase event and that being they will not get a cupcake to play. Originally Chester was schedule to play western PA's Mt. Lebanon which would've been a rematch of the 2011 State Championship. However, due to COVID, Mt. Lebanon had to pull out of the event. The tournament organizers were now faced with finding a replacement for their game against newly formed Keystone Academy Prep out of Erie, PA. With a starting lineup of 6'0", 6'1", 6'7", 6'9" and 6'10" coupled with reserves of 6'5, 6'9" and 6'9" the coaches were not raising their hands to play such a program. The director did not hesitate to contact Coach Taylor and Coach Taylor did not back down from the challenge. These are the kind of situations that has garnered the Chester Clippers their reputation as a nationally recognized "Legitimate High School" program.

Chester started the contest with their normal starting five of Breilynd White (5'9"), Qadir Lowrie (5'11"), Isaiah Freeman (6'3"), Kevin Rucker (6"4") and Larenzo Jerkins (6"5") and their standard full-court man-to-man defense. Freeman and Jerkins led the charge in the 1st with five points apiece and bucket by Lowrie kept the Clippers close only trailing 12-15 at the end of the period. The Clippers missed a couple assignments that allowed the Kings to drain 3-treys for the advantage. Unfortunately, in the second quarter, the Clippers miscues along with Jerkins sitting due to foul trouble and the Kings married that with 8 of 8 shooting from the charity strip to push their lead to 13 points at the intermission. Chester trailed 22-35.

The Clippers continued to play hard but defensive mistakes came back to hurt them once again. You cannot continue to give up open threes especially to shooters with Steph Curry range and expect to get back in the game. Larenzo Jerkins and Kevin Rucker battled inside scoring 7 and 6 points respectively but the Clippers gave up 19 and they were looking up at a 37-54 deficit going into the final 8 minutes of play.

Chester continued to fight in the fourth quarter with Rucker scoring 10 of his career high 20 points in the quarter. White dropped all 8 of his points in the period with Jerkins and Womack adding 4 apiece. As the Clippers were inching closer and closer, the Kings called three fourth quarter timeouts to regroup. White's trey with about 30 seconds to play got Chester with 9 points, 60-69, when the Kings called their final timeout.

These young men did not go down without a fight. I believe both teams learned a little more about themselves after this contest. Several fans made comments about the "Don't Say Die" and team spirit the Clippers displayed even in defeat.

Jerkins joined Rucker in double-digits with 16 points while Freeman had another double-digit rebound game with 11 to go along with his 6 points. Womack finished with 8 points and Terrence Cobb dropped a trey in the second quarter.

The Clippers will return to the court tomorrow afternoon when they take on Cumberland Valley.