Seasoned Clippers back in their comfort zone
PHILADELPHIA >> In the postgame tranquility beneath the Liacouras Center Tuesday night, Stanley Davis required only a matter-of-fact inflection.
“Chester is back,” the senior guard said, minutes after spearheading Chester’s 74-62 triumph over Ridley in a District One Class AAAA semifinal.
Its return to the district’s elite after a one-year sabbatical is without question. And it’s fitting that one of the longest-entrenched members of the group provides the welcoming party for what the Clippers hope is a championship reintroduction.
No. 9 seed Chester will chase its 25th District One title Friday night at Temple University against No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
The rankings and records seem to indicate a favorite. But drill down to the teams’ cores and you may find those figures deceiving.
Since Jan. 1, Chester (20-6) has fewer losses, winning 18 of its last 19. Only the Clippers boast four double-digit postseason wins, none a particularly close scrape. Plymouth Whitemarsh (24-2), with its four-point survival against Academy Park in the second round and its one-possession revenge on Central Bucks West in the semis, can’t stake such a claim.
Their semifinal advancements contrasted sharply. Where PW suffocated Lower Merion and put them away at the free throw line in a ragged 53-42 win, Chester sailed past Ridley, never allowing the Green Raiders closer than eight points in the final 14 minutes.
The teams’ history is weighty. Plymouth Whitemarsh, which last won districts with the John Salmons-led 1998 squad, has lost in the final three times since, including last season to Abington. It dropped the final in 2010 (in overtime to Penn Wood, which it then avenged in the PIAA final) and in 2007 to Chester, 70-62.
Chester is 11-4 all-time in the postseason against the Colonials. It is 2-1 in District One finals, winning in 1967 and falling in 1974.
Embellishment is hardly required on the historical merits, but the symbolism is nonetheless palpable. Last year, Chester missed the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 1991-92. The campaign pivoted Dec. 29 at Widener University, when point guard Khaleeq Campbell tore his ACL against the Colonials.
Chester, then 5-1, dropped that game 72-70, then slid to a sub-.500 record the rest of the way without its emotional and on-court leader.
Even sans Campbell, as coach Larry Yarbray observed Tuesday, that Chester team nearly beat PW. They took champions Abington to overtime in the second round of districts. And seven of their 11 losses were by six points or fewer, five by one possession.
That’s all in the past. But the lessons stretch into the present, carried by a nine-strong senior contingent.
“I think a lot of the guys learned from it,” Yarbray said. “… Guys like Stanley and Jahmi (Bailey-Green), they pretty much know what to do in those situations this year, and we’re winning those games.”
Chester’s handling of Ridley is instructive for its approach to PW. Brett Foster got his points Tuesday, accounting for 31 of the Green Raiders’ 62. But Chester’s ability to close out shooters muted Julian Wing to five points in the first three quarters (13 total), Ryan Bollinger to three field goal attempts and five points and shut out Liam Thompson.
PW’s composition is similar in the impetus of a star guard, Rider signee Xzavier Malone, who bedeviled Lower Merion for 19 points. They get especially dangerous when Oakley Spencer (14 points vs. LM) and Kevin Ashenfelter capitalize on help defenses geared toward Malone leaving open looks.
PW’s added wrinkle is 6-foot-5 Mike Lotito, who scored 12 points against the Aces. Jamar Sudan, who dominated the glass with 11 rebounds and 16 points Tuesday, seems the natural matchup for Lotito, who can create off the bounce.
In the intangibles category, Chester might have a big one looming. Guard Marquis Collins, the Clippers’ leading scorer who has missed the last nine games with a left (shooting) shoulder injury, has been cleared to play, per Yarbray. The plan is to ease the Delaware State commit in to lessen the adjustment curve in states.
Without him, Chester has flourished. Davis has emerged, as has senior guard Deshawn Hinson to fill the scoring void. Yarbray deployed a 12-man rotation Tuesday, all of whom can generate offense, from a four-deep forward corps to shooters like Ahrod Carter and Donald Hodges and driving guards like Bailey-Green.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Hinson said. “They’re not going to roll over easy for us. It’s going to be a battle.”
That, too, is just like old times.
