Sudan, Chester power past Spring-Ford

CHELTENHAM >> This was the Chester team people are used to seeing every March.

The Clippers masqueraded as something other than an unstoppable locomotive out to destroy everything in its way for long enough Wednesday and, perhaps to some extent, in earlier postseason battles. For the Clippers to improve upon their record wins in PIAA title games, they needed to embrace who they are. What the Clippers are not is a finesse team.

The real Chester team stood up Wednesday.

Led by 6-foot-6 forward Jamar Sudan’s 15-point, 10-rebound effort, Chester claimed a convincing, 74-49 victory over undersized Spring-Ford in a PIAA Class AAAA Tournament second-round game at Cheltenham High.

The Clippers will play District Three champion Reading in their 31st trip to the PIAA quarterfinals Saturday at a time and location to be determined. Reading downed District 11’s Emmaus, 71-54.

While the score doesn’t indicate it, the Rams (21-8) didn’t make things easy for the Clippers (22-8), particularly in the first half.

Foul trouble to key starters ultimately led to Chester missing 10 3-pointers in the first two quarters, which allowed Spring-Ford to have a pulse.

But once the second half started, the Clippers got back to doing what they are known for. Forwards Deshawn Hinson, Marquis Collins and Maurice Henry accounted for 14 of their squad’s 18 points in the period, and the Clippers turned a five-point halftime lead into an 11-point cushion going into the final quarter.

“Sudan got a couple fouls and I had to take him out, so I put my second unit in and they resorted to shooting 3s and we became a very passive-aggressive team,” Chester coach Larry Yarbray said. “In the third quarter, I put back my starting unit back in and we went back down low. Finally, Marquis wanted to go down there and fight, so with him, Sudan, Maurice, Deshawn and Jamal (Jones), most teams aren’t going to have enough bodies to go down and play that way.”

Collins, the Clippers’ immensely talented 6-7 senior forward, showed no ill-effects from a lingering shoulder issue that limited his time on the floor in recent weeks. Arguably the Clippers’ most prolific scorer, he helped lead a bruising, but effective low-post effort as Collins scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half.

“I just felt like I had to get in a rhythm a little bit,” said Collins, who came off the bench to shoot 6 of 9 from the field. “In the first half I came out not as aggressive. Once I got my first bucket I knew it was going to be a good day.”

Before Collins heated up, the Clippers relied on Sudan and Hinson early on. Before he was hindered by foul trouble, Sudan netted nine points in the first quarter, while Hinson had four of his 12 in the period.

The Clippers had a distinct size advantage over the Rams, who featured only one player (Cameron Reid) taller than 6-3. Chester, on the other hand, has seven of those guys. For the Rams to sustain success, then, they needed to be effective from long range. After hitting six 3-pointers in the opening half, Spring-Ford struggled from beyond the arc the rest of the way, missing 11 of 13 tries.

“Our deficiency this season was our lack of size and it showed in the second half tonight,” Spring-Ford coach Chris Talley said. “It’s tough to slow it down against them because their ball pressure is so good and it’s tough to run with them because they’re so athletic, so you’ve got to try to take something away from them, make them shoot from the outside. Unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalize.”

Reid paced the Rams with 13 points, but six of those came in the fourth quarter when the outcome was determined. Meanwhile, the Rams’ exciting trio of combo guards (Chuckie Robinson, Nigel Cooke and Matt Gnias) combined for 24 points on 7-for-28 shooting.

“The second half was definitely our brand of basketball, getting to the rim, trapping and playing defense,” Collins said. “The first half we took way too many jump shots, we weren’t being aggressive enough.”

Chester shot an impressive 17 of 26 from the floor after halftime.

“We were 1-for-11 with our 3s in the first half,” Collins said. “The message (at halftime) was no more 3s and get to the bucket. We just had to play hard and play our brand of basketball like we do every day in practice.”

Chester won the rebounding battle over Spring-Ford, 42-18, and destroyed the Rams inside the paint.

“I don’t think they wanted to get physical with us,” Hinson said. “Their whole team was a little shellshocked, I think.”