District 1 Boys Basketball: Sayed, Keys perfectly in tune as Chichester surprises Penncrest

MIDDLETOWN — Zaiyin Keys tried to contain his grin as he fielded questions. Maz Sayed dropped all pretense of anything but elation, smiling ear-to-ear throughout.

Sayed had seen enough to understand, perhaps better than his teammate, just what transpired at Penncrest’s Kaufman Gymnasium. Twice in his career, including as a freshman at this very gym, Sayed had seen Chichester’s boys basketball team stumble at their first District 1 hurdle.

Sometimes the games were close, something not so much. But four times in five years, Clyde Jones’ Eagles had reached the first round of the postseason and progressed no further.

Keys and Sayed played starring roles in ending that futility Friday night.

Sayed scored 17 points, and Keys paired with Eddie Swinton to clamp down on Penncrest’s Saahir Lee as No. 12 Chichester upended No. 5 Penncrest, 50-43, in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.

“This feeling is amazing,” Sayed said. “It’s the first playoff win since, I don’t even know how long. I’m just very excited for my teammates.”

Trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, Chichester (10-12) appeared destined for another district disappointment, perhaps on the order of the 34-point shellacking third-seeded Penncrest meted out to No. 14 Chi in 2020. But the Eagles turned things around after the break.

The biggest change came defensively, where Keys and Swinton put the shackles on Lee, who had scored 13 first-half points. They face-guarded him all over the court, leading to just two rushed shot attempts in the third quarter, both off target.

“It feels great,” Keys said of his defensive stopper role. “You’ve got to sign up for the challenge and see if you can go get it or not.”

Muzzling Lee, especially with Ben Stanton in foul trouble, left the Lions (12-12) scrambling. Stanton scored seven points in the first half but got no more. Combined, the duo that accounts for 58 percent of the Lions scoring went 11-for-25 from the field.

“He’s the heart of our team,” forward Quinten Perilli said of Lee, who tallied 21 points. “He’s the engine. If he’s not running, it’s tough to get the car started up again.”

With space to operate, Chichester rallied. Akhir Keys put them up for the first time at 30-28 midway through the third, Zaiyin finding his brother open in the corner to stroke a 3-pointer.

“It was great,” Zaiyin said. “I ran down, passed to him. That twin chemistry, it felt great.”

Penncrest nudged ahead on Garrett Whtifield’s 3-pointer to end the third, and the Lions led 35-31 thanks to Perilli. The forward, who averages a scant 1.8 points per game and is mainly there for his rebounding tenacity, shot 4-for-5 from the field, all eight of his points in the second half. He added 10 boards.

“No one was making shots,” Perilli said. “We weren’t scoring. They were scoring. I said, if I get the ball, I’m shooting it. Nothing’s dropping, so we’ve got to try something different. I shot the ball and they went in, and it helped us get back a little bit.”

The Lions, though, made too many mistakes late under Chi pressure. They committed eight second-half turnovers, including four on the first nine possessions of the fourth. That allowed Chichester to rattle off 11 straight points, surging ahead for good on a Zaiyin Keys quick-pull 3-pointer with 4:41 left.

The Eagles did enough at the line, Sayed and Vince Wildrick (10 points) going 10-for-14, to seal a date with No. 4 Upper Moreland in Wednesday’s second round. It’s a win many years in the making.

“The offseason, we were just grinding and grinding, and now we’re here,” Zaiyin Keys said. “We won the first playoff game. Four out of five years, we lost in the first playoff round, and it’s just good to get out.”