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.