Chester Drops Del Val Opener

By Terry Thomas

Chester (4-6) opened Del Val League play with a 54-64 loss to the visiting Penn Wood Patriots (6-2). This marked Coach Taylor's first league loss in six seasons. Penn Wood snaps a 10-game losing streak to Chester. The loss also snapped Chester's 13-year, 58 straight Del-Val League winning streak at home. It also ended Chester's 43-game Del Val League winning streak dating back to February 7, 2017 at Academy Park (info provided by Dave Burman).

The Clippers had their slowest start of the season producing a season low six points in the opening quarter. In contrast, the Patriots were hitting from afar producing 14 points including three treys. The Patriots hot hand continued into the second quarter with 18 points while the Clippers could only muster 11. Breilynd White led the way with 5 including a trey, Terrence Cobb added a trey with Calvin Williams and Dallas Thompson competing the scoring with 2 and 1 respectively. Chester entered intermission in a 17-32 hole.

Chester offensive woes continued as they were only able to score once in their first possession in the third quarter; resulting in a 20-36 deficit with 6:10 to play. Finally feeling a sense of urgency, the Clippers began to fight back. Chester went on a 6-0 run with buckets from White, Cobb and Jerry Young. Chester was now ten points down, 26-36, with 4:25 left in the quarter. The Patriots stopped the run with a trey but could not capitalize on two consecutive Chester turnovers. Chester however, turned a Dominic Toy steal into and-1 by White to get the deficit back to ten, 29-39, at the 2:59 mark. Even with two turnovers in their next five possessions, Chester went on a 7-2 run. A bucket from junior Calvin Williams, two free throws and a trey from Cobb enabled Chester to close the gap even more to 36-41 with 1:17 left in the quarter. Chester played give-away again and found themselves trailing 36-45 as the third quarter ended.

Breilynd White opened the final quarter scoring the first five points and Chester was within four, 41-45. Dante Atkinson answered Penn Wood's basket with a trey and the Clippers now trailed by three, 44-47, with 6:40 to play. Penn Wood countered with a trey and the margin stayed at 6 points until there was about 2 minutes to play. Chester was forced to foul and the parade to the foul line began. The Patriots were able to shoot 7 of 11 in the final quarter to secure the win.

Breilynd White finished with a career high 20 points followed by Terrence Cobb with 16 points. The other Chester scorers were Dante Atkinson and Calvin Williams each with 4 and 3 points apiece from Kyree Womack and Dominic Toy. Dallas Thompson and Jerry Young finished it off with 2 points apiece.

The Clippers will attempt to return to their winning ways on Saturday, January 7 with the Bartram Braves visit the Clip Joint for a matinee session. The JV game will tip-off at 2:00 pm with the Varsity to follow.