Shanahan falls to Chester in District 1 5A semifinal

CHESTER >> Any team that goes to play the Chester boys basketball team at the vaunted Clip Joint knows they have to match the Clippers intensity and take care of the basketball. Saturday afternoon in the PIAA District 1 5A semifinal, visiting Bishop Shanahan tried mightily but could not pull off the upset as the second seeded Clippers rolled to a 56-43 win.

Chester will now play Radnor next Saturday for the District 1 5A title at Temple University at 2 p.m. while the Eagles travel to Upper Moreland on Wednesday in the third place game.

Chester (18-5) got a huge performance from impressive sophomore Kevin Rucker, who led all scorers with 27 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Isaiah Freeman chipped in with 10 points and 12 boards for the Clippers.

“I knew I had to step up today and help on the boards,” Rucker said. “And it was a real fight out there, but my role is to score and help out on the boards and I did not want to let the seniors down with a chance to play for the district championship at Temple. Because of COVID they couldn’t go last year and we wanted to win because it was their senior year and we all wanted to go back to the title game at Temple.”

After a first half which saw the Clippers take a 28-21 lead into the locker room at halftime, the teams slowed the game down to a crawl in the third period. Chester outscored the Eagles by a 9-8 margin in the third period to take a 37-29 edge into the fourth period. Zane Domsohn led Bishop Shanahan (13-12) with 20 points on the game but the Eagles shot just 3-for-14 from the field in the third period.

Chester, however, kept the Eagles in the game by turning the ball over 16 times, to the Eagles’ 19 turnovers. Chester had many chances to put Bishop Shanahan away but just could not deliver the knockout punch in the third period.

“Bishop Shanahan is a well coached team that plays very hard,” Chester coach Keith Taylor said. “We turned them over quite a bit but we could not take advantage because we were giving the ball right back at them.

“And Kevin was big for us today. He started out the season very strong against some teams which were not as talented as us and then he hit a little slump. Today he really gave us what we needed. He scored the ball well and did a good job on the boards. He is really coming into his own right now.”

Bishop Shanahan got a long three-ball from Domsohn to start the fourth period to cut the Chester lead to 40-32 with 6:53 to play in the fourth period. After a Chester miss, Charlie Federico drove the lane for a basket and the Eagles crawled within 40-34 with 3:54 left in the fourth period.

But, Chester turned up the defensive pressure and forced eight fourth-period Eagles turnovers. Rucker took nice feed from Qadir Lowrie to score inside for a 43-36 lead with 3:07 to play.

Domsohn scored on a three point play to draw the Eagles close at 43-39, but that was as close as Bishop Shanahan would get.

Rucker hit three of four free throws, Domoshn misfired on a three-ball, and Chester got another inside basket from Freeman and the Clippers built a 52-41 advantage with 52 seconds to play.

The Eagles recovered to shoot 6-for-12 from the field in the fourth period after a very cold third period from the field.

“We knew we were going to have to handle this pressure and take care of the basketball,” Bishop Shanahan coach John Dougherty said. “And we played very hard, not just for this team but all the Shanahan teams in the past. A lot of those players have reached out to us and we are building a program here. But, we have played very hard all season and I couldn’t be prouder of the kids’ effort today. We knew we were going to have to play almost a perfect game and we could not get it done.”

Chester 56, Bishop Shanahan 43
BISHOP SHANAHAN (43) Domsohn 8 2-4 20, Federico 2 1-1 5, E.Kapczynski 0 0-0 0, L.Kapczynski 1 0-0 3, O’Laughlin 4 3-6 11, Redner-Tims 1 0-0 2, Scaggs 1 0-0 2, Jordan 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-11 43.
CHESTER (56) White 1 6-8 8, Lowrie 1 2-2 5, Itabiyi 0 0-0 0, Freeman 4 2-5 10, Rucker 9 7-9 27, Jerkins 2 0-0 4, Womack 1 0-0 2, Atkinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 17-24 56.
Bishop Shanahan 13 8 8 14-43
Chester 12 16 9 19-56
3-point goals: Domsohn 2, L.Kapczynski, Lowrie, Rucker 2.