Chester Advances to Championship Game

 By Terry Thomas

Chester (17-3) advances to defend their District-1 Championship with a 56-43 victory over the visiting Bishop Shanahan Eagles. The Clippers will face the #1 seeded Radnor Raptors on Saturday, March 5, 2022 at Temple University's Liacouras Center. The tip-off is schedule for 2:00 p.m.

The Clippers were a little out of sorts to begin the contest and after several turnovers and missed shots found themselves trailing 6-13 at the 1:53 mark. Chester regained their composure holding the Eagles scoreless while scoring on their final three possessions of the quarter to cut the deficit to 12-13. Chester used four players to produce their point production: Larenzo Jerkins and Isaiah Freeman scored 4 apiece and Breilynd White and Kevin Rucker added 2 each. 

The Clippers took advantage of the wind in their sails cruising to a 10-2 run to open the second quarter resulting in a 22-15 lead with 4:20 to go. Sophomore Kevin Rucker led the charge scoring 8 of his career/game high of 27 points. After turning his ankle, senior Qadir Lowrie came off the bench to drain a trey and sophomore Kyree Womack added a bucket to help the Clippers convert a first quarter deficit into a 28-21 halftime lead. Chester connected on 4 of 5 free throws in the quarter. The Clippers defense stiffened holding the Eagles to 8 points in the quarter. 

Chester maintained their defensive presence in the third quarter again holding the Eagles to 8 points. Meanwhile, Kevin Rucker continued making his mark scoring 7 of Chester's 9 third quarter points. Chester led at the end of the slower paced third quarter, 37-29. 

The Clippers scored on their first two possessions of the final quarter taking a 40-29 lead at the 7:00 mark. The inability to score in their next five possessions allowed the Eagles to draw within 40-34 with 4:20 remaining in the quarter. The teams exchanged baskets over the next two plus minutes. With 1:39 on the clock, Kevin Rucker connected on 1 of 2 free throws giving Chester the 48-41 lead. After Isaiah Freemen blocked an Eagles shot, Rucker went 2 of 2 from the line; he followed that with a sweat reverse layup giving the Clippers a 52-41 lead. Lowrie stripped his opponent, was fouled and converted both free throws. His back-court mate, Breilynd White, duplicated his fete - a steal and free throws, pushing the lead to 56-41 with 31.7 seconds left in the contest. 

Breilynd White joined Rucker in double-figures with 10 points. Isaiah Freeman just missed a double-double with 8 points and 12 rebounds. Qadir Lowrie (5), Larenzo Jerkins (4) and Kyree Womack completed the scoring with 2 points. 

With today's win Coach Taylor earns his 94^th victory putting him in a tie with Juan Baughn for 7^th place on Chester Basketball Coaches Win List.

Clippers Advances to Semi-Finals

 By Terry Thomas

Chester (16-3) advances to the DIstrict-1 Semi-finals with a 59-50 victory over the Marple Newtown Tigers at the Clip Joint. With the win the Clippers will host Bishop Shanahan on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 pm tip-off. The win also qualified Chester for their 5th consecutive trip to the State Tournament under Coach Taylor.

Senior Qadir Lowrie opened the game with a trey that kept the Clippers streak of consecutive games with a trey at 54 games. It would be their only trey in the game. Sophomore Kevin Rucker scored the next three points and Chester was up 6-0. Sophomore Larenzo Jerkins connected on two free throws to put Chester ahead 8-1 at the 5:15 mark. The Clipper responded to a Tigers's trey with a basket by Jerkins off a feed from Breilynd White; Chester 10-4. After a Jerkins rebound, Rucker scored his fifth point of the quarter. Chester led after one, 12-6.

With the pace slowed in the second quarter coupled with Chester inability to knock down shots and Marple finding their mark from distance; the game was close going into intermission. Chester managed to hold a slim 20-18 lead behind 5 second quarter points from White, a bucket from Jerkins and a free throw from sophomore Kyree Womack.

Chester scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter taking a 23-20 lead at 7:07. The Tigers scored on their next two possession taking their first and only lead of the game 24-23 with 4:05 on the clock. Rucker responded with a bucket for the Clippers on their next possession to regain the lead 25-24. White stripped the ball and feed Lowrie for an easy two, Chester up 27-24. The Tigers got back to with one 28-27 before Lowrie completed an old-fashioned three-point play. Chester 31-27. Lowrie joined the theft club, was fouled and knocked down both free throws, Chester 33-27 with 1:25 remaining. Once again, the Tigers responded with a contested trey to close the gap. Senior Isaiah Freeman scored off one of his 12 rebounds for a 35-30 Chester lead. Rucker rebounded the missed Tiger's shot passing the length of the court to Freeman who was fouled with 0.5 seconds left in the quarter. He was able to connect on one of the two shots giving the Clippers a 36-30 lead after three periods.

The Clippers started the fourth quarter in the same manner as the previous three with a 6-0 run pushing their lead to 42-30 with 5:05 on the clock. Kevin Rucker was responsible for all the points. Each time Marple would get within 6 points the Clippers would respond with a bucket or a clutch free throw from Lowrie. He connected on 6 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter. A rebound from Womack led to a backet by White putting the Clippers up 53-43 with about 1:05 remaining in the contest. True to form Marple connected on another trey and were forced to call their last timeout at 58.8 seconds and trailing 53-46. The Clippers scored on their final three possessions for the win.

Qadir Lowrie and Kevin Rucker each finished with game highs of 18 points. Lowrie also finished with a team high 4 assists to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot. Rucker also contributed4 rebounds. Even with the slower pace, Chester managed to dish out 10 assists on 19 made baskets showing they can be effective in a half-court game. Junior Breilyn White and sophomore Larenzo Jerkins each just missed the double-digit club with 9 and 8 points respectively. Isaiah Freeman (4) and Kyree Womack (2) completed Chester's scoring.

There was a nice crowd at the Clip Joint and the those in attendance got their money's worth of excitement. It would be nice if we could fill the Clip Joint on Saturday afternoon and let these young men know just how much the community supports their efforts.

Chester Clippers Basketball Senior Night

By Terry Thomas

If you are in the area, I highly recommend you make your way to the Fred Pickett Gymnasium on Thursday, February 10 as we honor our senior basketball players. The team will be playing their final regular season game at the Clip Joint and will take the time for a curtain call before the start of the Varsity game for the student athletes that has given so much to the program.

The team will be hosting Del Val League opponent - Academy Park Knights. The game is open to all spectators. Don't miss the opportunity to support your team. The team is currently on a nine-game win streak and a 40-game Del Val League win streak.

Being honored will be Olayinka Itabiyi, Isaiah Freeman and Qadir Lowrie along with special recognition to Edward "Lil Ricky" Harmon and Jermere Clark. 

Olayinka "Yinks" Itabiyi is completing his third season with the Clippers where his teams have a record of 51-10. They have won three undefeated Del Val League Championships and are the reigning District-1 Champions. Yinks is currently carrying a 3.5 GPA. 

Isaiah Freeman and Qadir Lowrie are completing their second season with the team. Their teams have a 27-6 record, they too are reigning District-1 Champs and have won two undefeated Del Val League Championships. Isaiah carries a 3.5 GPA and Qadir carries a 3.0 GPA.

Edward "Lil Ricky" Harmon (#35) and Jermere Clark (#40) were members of the 2019-2020 Clipper team but tragically had their seasons shortened due to gun violence. The two young men were playing basketball outside Ed's house just before coming to practice back in March 2020 when a shooter opened fire on the boys. Unfortunately, Edward did not survive and Jermere had his career ended as he now sits in a wheel chair. At Chester you are never a "former Clipper", you are a "Clipper for Life". At the conclusion of practice and before we leave the locker room at the end of each game; we end it with "1-2-3 Chester; 4-5-6 Family". This is not just a saying, "It Is Real".

These two young men have a special place in our hearts and we could not let their senior season go by without including them in this special celebration of the Class of 2022. I hope you can take the time to come celebrate these young men.

Triple Header:  Freshman - 3:45 pm, JV - 5:30 pm, Varsity - 7:00 pm