PIAA Class A Boys Basketball: Chester Charter stays focused, beats short-handed LCDS
NETHER PROVIDENCE — It would have been easy for Chester Charter Scholars Academy to look over at Lancaster Country Day School during warmups and think it had this game in the bag.
The visiting Cougars were without two of their top players, Toby Ashby and Mick Cook, and only had six players in uniform due to a set of circumstances beyond the team’s control. The school is on spring break, during which time several trips are planned a year in advance, according to LCD coach John Shultz. That was the reason for Ashby and Cook’s absence.
Yet Saber seniors Jayden Williams and Kevin Miller knew better than to take the short-handed Cougars lightly.
“We couldn’t lose sight on what we had to do,” Williams said. “We had to stay focused.”
Miller and Williams made sure the Sabers stayed locked in and the result was a 58-44 victory in the opening round of the PIAA Class A tournament Friday evening.
Miller scored a game-high 23 points and was a disruptive force on the defensive end with five steals. Williams tallied 10 points, handed out nine assists and made two steals to send CCSA (20-5) into Tuesday’s second round against the winner of Saturday’s game between District 4 runnerup Northumberland Christian (18-5) and District 2 champ Forest City (12-11) at a site and time to be determined.
Lancaster Country Day (16-10) hung tough despite being shorthanded. That was due in large part to the play of freshman Jordan Ashby and junior Kane Kirby, and the 3-2 zone defense the Cougars employed. Ashby led the way with 21 points. Kirby added 11, but it was the defense that gave the Sabers problems and kept LCDS in the contest.
“That’s the first time we’ve played it this year,” Shultz said. “We just put it in this week. It was a new team, we had to do something different. They’re great kids. Coachable and highly competitive kids, and they stuck to the game plan and did a great job.”
Eventually, though CCSA was able to solve the 3-2 riddle, thanks to a late flurry at the end of the quarter sparked by Miller’s defense. He had two of his steals and six of his points in the final 2:20 to spark a 10-0 run that broke a 17-17 deadlock and sent the Sabers into the locker room with a 27-17 advantage.
“I noticed that they didn’t have very good ball-handlers and couldn’t use their weak hand,” Miller said. “I made them take two dribbles with their strong hand and then force them to their weak hand and reach for the steal.”
CCSA’s defense, with Miller leading the way, kept the Cougars off-balance throughout the contest. The Sabers forced 17 turnovers, which they turned into 18 points. CCSA also held the Cougars to 37 percent shooting overall (16-for-43) and 31 percent from 3-point range (5-for-16).
“We knew the turnovers and offensive rebounds were going to get us and that’s what happened,” Shultz said.
Still, the Cougars didn’t go away. LCDS cut a 12-point deficit to six, 47-41, with 3:57 remaining, but Samaad Powell scored six of his eight points in a two-minute span to give the Sabers some breathing room. Powell also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Fittingly, Williams and Miller finished it off. Williams converted a conventional three-point play to boost the advantage to 56-42 and Miller canned both ends of a one-and-one to close out the scoring for the Sabers.
“We feed off of each other’s energy a lot,” Miller said of Williams. “When he’s picks it up I have to pick it up, too. We keep each other to a high standard because we’re seniors. We have to lead the team.”
