Defense does job as Chester handles Parkland in first round of states

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BETHLEHEM — Taken on their own, the elements of the play Saturday weren’t particularly extraordinary.

Chester wing Rahmaad DeJarnette stepped in to pick off a Parkland pass. He missed a shot, this one a fastbreak dunk attempt off back iron that clanged out more spectacularly then most. Akeem Taylor corralled the rebound, as he did so often Saturday, and dished back to DeJarnette to lay in off glass.

That confluence of events wasn’t the most spectacular moment in a 55-41 Chester win in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament at Freedom High School’s Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium. But it illustrated the total control that Chester, the sixth seed from District 1, exerted over the Trojans when the Clippers turned the screws.

Even without leading scorer Karell Watkins, suspended for a violation of team rules per coach Keith Taylor, the Clippers (20-6) ran all over Parkland. The third-quarter margin was a game-deciding 25-5, with Chester forcing 16 total turnovers and turning them into offense at will.

Chester had led by as many as 11 in the first quarter before Parkland lulled it into a half-court game to get within three at halftime. But the Clippers had no intention of letting that pattern play out in the third. They blew the doors off the second seed from District 11 from the start, leading by as many as 25.

“Defense leads to offense,” said DeJarnette, who had three steals in Parkland’s first four possessions. “We came out with momentum, scored, we went up by a lot. We settled down a lot, and that’s when (Parkland) started coming back. We had to get our defense back up, and that’s what we did.”

Michael Smith set the tone with a 3-pointer on the first possession of the third – after Akeem Taylor blocked an attempt by Parkland’s Logan Rindock. A pair of and-1s by forward Javan Graham in the quarter stretched the edge to 12, then Smith buried a triple that caused the Parkland bench to call time and reassess.

“Coach told us when we came out, we can’t let them get back in the game,” Graham said. “If they get back in the game, momentum swings and they can go up. Usually the second half is our half, so we came out and played defense. … (The 3-point plays were) a big moment for me, get the team momentum, get the team hyped.”

Akeem Taylor was the pace setter. He shot 8-for-9 from the field for 16 points, his second-highest output as a Clipper. He added team-highs with four steals (tied with DeJarnette), five rebounds and four assists, plus two blocks. His hustle and physicality was more than the lankier Parkland bigs could handle.

“It frees us up a lot,” DeJarnette said of Taylor. “Because when the team is focused on one player, it frees up everyone else. So he’s doing everything that he has to do.”

Try as they might, the Trojans had no answers. They figured out six first-quarter turnovers were an unsustainable rate, and they went 13-for-14 from the free-throw line. But as coach Andy Stephens rotated in a cast of eight regulars looking for any semblance of a spark, none materialized. And with Chester scoring the final 13 points of the third, Parkland found itself doubled up after three, 46-23.

Jake Melady turned in a solid game with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. But 10 of his points came in the fourth quarter when the result had been decided.

Chester attempted 17 more field goals than Parkland, which only hit 12 of them. The Clippers’ hustle negated Parkland’s height advantage with a 23-21 edge on the boards, even without Watkins, the forward who had averaged 19.9 points per game but who has missed two of the last three games.

Parkland’s 2-3 zone was only effective for as long as they could force Chester to play at that pace, which was only the second quarter. Smith was 3-for-6 from 3-point land for 17 points, which dented the zone. But not settling for jumpers and attacking off the dribble was the death knell.

“Our mind had to change because we weren’t making any jump shots,” said DeJarnette, who scored eight points. “So our coach told us, ‘stop shooting so much and drive, fill the gaps.’ That’s what we did, fill the gaps, penetrate and then kick off to the big men.”

The team approach mitigated the loss of Watkins and sends a message that the Clippers won’t be fun to play against, with or without their big man. The next test is Wednesday against District 3 champion Harrisburg, which edged past District 1 10th-place team Downingtown East, 63-61, Saturday.

“It shows we can play with anybody, with whatever team we have,” DeJarnette said. “We all have to play a big part and do what we have to do.”

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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