Sunday, January 21, 2024

Clippers Streak Reaches Twelve

By Terry Thomas

Chester (13-1) extended their winning streak to 12 games with a 64-54 win over the William Penn (York) Bearcats at the Clip Joint.

Prior to the start of the game, Coach Cliff Wilson was honored with the renaming of the portion of Barclay Street in front of Chester High School to "Cliff Wilson Way". Coach Wilson brought the first Boys Basketball State Championship to Chester in 1983. Coach Wilson was surrounded by his family, members of the 1983 State Championship Team and his predecessor Juan Baughn. A special moment was held as the only living Chester Head Coaches, Cliff Wilson, Juan Baughn and Keith Taylor Sr, had a Kodak moment at center court. Cliff Wilson amassed 239 wins in his career, Juan Baughn finished with 94 and Keith Taylor Sr is currently guiding the Clipper ship with 123 wins.

Dominic Toy dominated the first quarter scoring 10 of his career high 19 points. Junior Dallas Thompson drained two treys, Dante Atkinson chipped in three points and Calvin Williams added a free throw. The Clippers raced out to a 20-9 lead before the Bearcats scored the final four points of the quarter. Chester led 20-13 when the buzzer sounded. With Toy watching from the sidelines due to foul trouble, the Clippers went cold scoring a mire 7 points thus allowing the Bearcats to close the gap at the intermission. Chester held a narrow 27-26 edge.

The third quarter was a different ball game. The Bearcats took the lead on their first possession and Toy tied the game at 28. York went on a 5-0 run earning their largest lead of the afternoon, 28-33, forcing Chester to call a time-out at the 5:14 mark. Toy answered with a 4-0 run of his own capped with a trey from the top of the key closing the gap to 32-33 with 4:14 to play. Atkinson's trey tied the game at 35 and another Toy basket and Chester was back in front 37-35. The Bearcats recaptured the lead for the final time at 37-38. Daron Harris responded with a bucket giving the Clippers the lead 39-38 with 2:10 to play. A trey from Jaseir Thompson followed by another Toy basket and the lead was up to 44-38 with just over a minute to play in the period. Toy's impact was felt as he scored both inside and outside, scoring 9 of the team's 17 points. Toy finished with 19 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, 3 assists and 2 steals. Chester led 44-40 at the end of the quarter.

The Clippers sailed into the fourth quarter off the wind generated in the third quarter. They pushed out to an 11-5 run and with 4:10 to play Jalen Harris scored giving the Clippers a 55-45 lead. Chester had an answer for whatever York sent their way. With 35 seconds left in the contest Jaseir Thompson stripped his opponent and scored giving Chester a 64-52 lead. Daron Harris was a key contributor in the final eight minutes, scoring 7 of his 9 points. Andre Brown scored his only 5 points in the quarter helping to keep the Bearcats at bay.

The Clippers will return to league action on Monday, January 22 when they travel to Glenolden to take on the Interboro Bucs.

JV GAME SUMMARY

Chester won their fifth straight pushing their record to 9-3 with a 64-57 win over York. Kristian Chambers and Germaine Glover led the way with 16 and 14 points respectively. The Clippers led 46-27 at the end of the third quarter and put the game on cruise control. With the bench starting and playing against the York starters, the game became very interesting in the final quarter. Chester called in the calvary (the starters) to close out the game and secure the win. Ten of the eleven Clippers that saw action put their names in the scoring column.

FRESHMAN GAME SUMMARY

Chester fell a little short against York, 39-50, in the first game of the afternoon's triple-header. Chester trailed by 13 at the half, 27-14, but fought back to close the gap to 10 at the end of the third quarter, 35-25. Zane Thomas finished with a team high of 14 points. The other Chester scorers were Quann Starkey (7), Jabree Davis (9), Julian Clark (1) and Vanel Melendez (8).

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