District 1 Class A Boys Basketball: Chester Charter’s ‘help the helper’ strategy produces a title
LOWER MERION — There wasn’t anything fancy about it. No schemes, no pressing, no funneling the ball to find weaknesses.
What Chester Charter Scholars Academy planned to do defensively in Saturday’s District 1 Class A final was simple as can be: When Phil-Mont Christian had the ball, make it so it wouldn’t anymore.
“It’s just hard work and being there for each other,” senior guard Jayden Williams said. “Help the helper. We work hard, and we want to get steals.”
With Williams leading the way, Chester Charter forced 19 turnovers, wreaking enough havoc early to withstand the Falcons’ fourth-quarter charge and emerge with a 70-64 win at Harriton High School.
From start to finish, the Sabers (19-5) made life miserable for any Falcon holding a basketball. They forced 11 turnovers in the first half, 15 in the first three quarters. Before things went pear-shaped, the Sabers led by as many as 21, denying Phil-Mont’s primary facilitator Jack Swider.
One passage in the fourth, when Swider simply dribbled the ball out of bounds under severe harassment from Williams, showed how harried they’d become.
“The goal was for us to attack the ball-handlers and make them play out of their character, and especially to take (Swider) out of the game, because that was their go-to player and their best player,” guard Kevin Miller said. “We did what we had to do, and the results showed at the end of the fourth quarter.”
Until the fourth, they executed near perfectly. They outscored Phil-Mont 19-6 in the third quarter to open what had been a five-point halftime lead. Azharis Smith was the focal point, the Sabers forcing the ball to the big man. He had six points in the frame, including four off a 6-0 spurt to start the frame and extend the lead to 42-31.
“Since our outside shots weren’t falling, our coaches decided we should go into our big man to get him more touches,” Miller said. “We went and he finished about two or three layups back to back, so that boosted our confidence way more on the offensive side.”
Defense cued a 9-2 run, punctuated when Williams stole a pass and fed Miller for a lay-in. With Chester Charter shooting 4-for-13 from 3-point range and Phil-Mont choosing to box-and-1 Miller at times, alternative offense was necessary.
Williams scored a game-high 17 points, including a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers. He added five steals, four assists and four rebounds. Miller had 15 points. Samaad Powell chipped in 11. Smith finished with eight points and five boards.
All of that was going smoothly with the Sabers up 50-29 with seven minutes to play. But Phil-Mont (18-9) started hitting shots, and CCSA went from two turnovers in the first three quarters to six in the fourth.
“Mentally, I felt like we got a little too ahead of ourselves,” Miller said, “because we knew what kind of game it was, and we wanted to celebrate the win.”
The solution was to not stop attacking. When Phil-Mont pulled to within 57-49, Powell drove for an and-1 to stem the tide. Back-to-back triples by Peter Haviland and Julian Ray made it 61-59 with 1:12 left. But the Sabers went 11-for-15 at the line in the fourth to stay clear of trouble.
Ray canned five 3-pointers for a game-high 22 points. Kendall Bratten had 16 points and 13 rebounds, most of his offense from the boards. Swider endured 5-for-15 shooting for 14 points.
The district title brings senior leaders Smith, Williams and Miller full circle. The Sabers won the district title as freshmen and were alive in states when the PIAA tournaments were cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting back there – with more to come – seems a fitting final achievement.
“It feels like the program is going up and it can only go up from here,” Williams said. “That’s what they tell us. We want our younger-classmen to see that, and I like that.”
