Sudan sets tone as Chester rips Ridley

PHILADELPHIA >> A junior by age and a battle-hardened veteran by reputation, Jamar Sudan grasped quickly the gameplan points the Chester coaching staff were drilling home this week.

It took all of one possession for the forward to put them into action, setting the tone for an authoritative Clippers performance.

Sudan was one of two Clippers with double-doubles, scoring 16 points to go with 11 rebounds in pacing No. 9 Chester to a 74-62 win over No. 4 Ridley in a District One Class AAAA semifinal at Temple University.

The win moves Chester (20-6) into Friday’s final against No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh, which downed Lower Merion, 53-42, in the first semi. The final is 8 p.m. at the Liacouras Center.

Sudan set the tone immediately, attacking the hoop off the bounce for a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays to tally Chester’s first six points. Even though the foul trouble that plagued a whistle-happy affair encroached on him in the second quarter, he stayed true to his coaches’ mantra.

“My coaches just said, we have size advantage,” Sudan said. “So tonight, it wasn’t really a perimeter game. We had to get boards, boards, boards, we had to crash, crash, crash. We just went hard, and that’s how we got the W.”

Sudan represents the best of both worlds for the Clippers in that regard. At 6-foot-4, the forward plays well above his height, his hands like vacuum cleaners in the lane sucking up rebounds and contributing to the Clippers’ 39-24 edge on the glass.

But he also has the handle and footwork of a guard, allowing him to contribute to the Clippers dogged defense and aggressiveness off the dribble.

“He’s been working hard to get to this point,” Chester coach Larry Yarbray said. “Now he’s just getting his opportunity (in big games). Works hard each and every day, wants to take on the second-best defender, gives me 120 percent, plays defense and rebounds and battles on the boards. I think his body is just starting to evolve physically.”

“It was tough on the boards because they’re like 6-8, 6-7,” said Ridley’s Julian Wing, who had Sudan keeping tabs on him defensively. “We tried to sandwich them and come down with the guards and forwards, but that didn’t work. They just got boards over us because they’re big.”

Like Sudan, Stanley Davis menaced Ridley in both lanes. He scored 16 points with his determination to drive to the hoop and added 10 rebounds. Most importantly, he ran the point when Khaleeq Campbell was sidelined in the second quarter with fouls, growing the Clippers’ lead at a vulnerable point.

“Stanley’s a greater passer,” Sudan said. “Khaleeq is smarter. When they’re driving, they bring a lot of attention to themselves and drop it off, and us big men, we just have to finish around the rim.”

Maurice Henry for 2. Chester up 70-57. 1:17 left. https://t.co/txkFbcnotm

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) February 24, 2016

The other commodity that Chester got and Ridley (25-2) uncharacteristically lacked was shooting. While Chester made a concerted effort to deny looks from deep for Ryan Bollinger and Liam Thompson (a combined 1-for-3 from 3-point land), Deshawn Hinson made his opportunities count. The senior guard hit a pair of second-quarter triples with Campbell resting and finished with 15 points, while Campbell tallied 12.

Chester’s elimination of the ancillary weapons left Ridley with little more than Brett Foster, which on many nights is enough. Tuesday, Foster did plenty, accounting for half of the Green Raiders’ points with 31 despite fouling out with 3:28 to play. Wing added 13, but only five were in the first three quarters, embellished by a pair of late triples.

Ridley got a boost from Damir Fleming, who came off the bench to score 12, including eight in the first half, before he too fouled out. Fleming entered the game with just 28 points on the season.

“It helps us because he comes off the bench, they don’t know who Damir is, he comes off the bench and starts scoring points,” Wing said. “It’s pressure off of us, because they focus on us — me, Brett and Ryan — and they don’t know about Damir.”

Chester started brightly, forcing a pair of Ridley timeouts in the first quarter, but the Green Raiders surged ahead with 5:01 left in the second on a Fleming bucket. That was the last time they’d lead, Chester finishing the half on a Hinson-fueled 10-4 run that extended to 19-6 in the third, punctuated by Davis dimes to Hinson and Sudan in transition to make it a 46-33 game.

Ridley responded behind Foster, aided by Chester’s 14-for-33 day from the line and a less effective press thanks to the early foul problems. But Ridley couldn’t sustain offensive continuity.

“It was hard for us to get into a rhythm because they were just scoring,” Wing said. “We couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t even finish down low because we had to come outside and shoot the ball. We weren’t shooting well.”

A Wing triple with under two minutes to play cut the deficit to eight at 70-62, but the threat was perfunctory, especially after Davis slammed home a lob from Campbell midway through the fourth quarter to loudly announce Chester’s title chops.

“Me and my point guard and brother Khaleeq, we’ve been trying that all year,” Davis said. “I’ve only been catching it in practice, but this is the first time I caught it in the game. It was just a momentum changer. I guess that took over the game.”

In that category, Davis’ dunk had plenty of company.

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Tickets for Friday’s District One Class AAAA Final at Temple University will be available at Chester High School from 2:30-6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Availability is limited.