Chester Comes Up Short at Lower Merion

By Terry Thomas

The 4th seeded Chester Clippers (20-3) came up short on their quest for the District-1 Championship falling 54-48 to the #1 seeded Lower Merion Aces (25-1). The game was played before a sold-out standing room only crowd at the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium on Lower Merion's campus. The Clippers will travel to West Chester on Friday night to face number 2 seeded West Chester Henderson for the District's third seed in the upcoming State Tournament.

Chester silenced the home fans opening the game with a trey from senior Dante Atkinson. The Clippers fed off the energy of their fans and pushed the lead to 13-5 off a steal and layup from Daron Harris forcing Lower Merion into a timeout at the 2:01 mark. Neither team would score over the next 60 seconds. However, the Aces closed the last minute of the quarter after a 7-2 run. The Clippers led 15-12 with the buzzer sounded. Dante Atkinson led the way for Chester, scoring 7 of his 9 points in the frame.

Lower Merion had the possession to start the second quarter; the teams exchanged baskets with the Aces tying the score at 18 with 6:20 on the clock. After the Aces took the lead on their third consecutive trey, 21-18, the Clippers fought back to tie the game at 21 off a blocked shot and layup from Jalen Harris at the 4:25 mark. From here the Clippers ran aground scoring just two points the remainder of the quarter. Chester's drought coupled with their four turnovers allowed the Aces to produce an 11-2 run. Chester now trailed 23-32 at the intermission.

Once again, the Aces had the possession arrow to start the quarter (third). This fell right into their strategy of running a four-corner (Dean Smith stall) offense. Having the lead and with no time clock to force them to shoot, they could hold the ball letting the clock run out and thus limit the number of possessions for their opponent. After being saddled with fouls in the first half, Dominic Toy made his presence felt scoring 6 of his team high 12 points in the third quarter. The Clippers were able to draw slightly closer, 36-44, at the end of the quarter.

Chester opened the final quarter with increased defensive intensity and produced an 11-3 run tying the score at 47 with 1:50 to play. Lower Merion again used the four-corner offense approach, but the Clippers stayed patient defensively, not allowing the back door to cut nor the open look from their kick-outs. The Clippers scored on 5 of their first 7 possessions in the quarter and the Chester crowd got louder and louder with each basket. Jalen Harris scored first, then came Dominic Toy who was followed by an old-fashioned three-point play by Daron Harris. Next came a steal from Jalen and another Toy bucket. Jalen hauled in another defensive rebound and on the other end his brother Daron scored the tying basket at 47. The Clippers could not find their mark over their next 5 possessions while the Aces began their parade to the foul line. Lower Merion went 7 for 10 from the charity stripe over the remaining 1:50 of the contest. Chester meanwhile only had 2 free throw attempts over the same time period.

Chester scoring: Dallas Thompson - 5, Jaseir Thompson - 4, Dominic Toy - 12, Dante Atkinson - 9, Calvin Williams - 2, Daron Harris - 9, Jalen Harris – 7