Chester moves on with win over Red Land
By Gorden Blain
HERSHEY – The defending PIAA State AAAA Champion Chester didn’t expect to be the fifth-place team from District 1 entering the 2009 state tournament.
The Clippers (24-4) had their eyes on yet another District 1 championship and were on a roll entering the District 1 tournament when they were upset by Norristown, the team they defeated in the district and state finals in 2008, in the district quarterfinals.
Neither did the Clippers expect to be challenged by Red Land, the surprise third-place team from District 3, in their state tournament opener Saturday afternoon at Hershepark Arena.
But they were.
Chester took a quick 6-0 lead but Red Land (16-12) didn’t lose focus and found itself with a 26-24 lead late in the first half. The Clippers led by just 29-28 at the half.
At halftime, Max Liddell led Red Land, which upset Harrisburg in the District 3 third-place game, with nine points. Rahlir Jefferson led Chester with eight.
Red Land’s hopes for another upset playoff win didn’t last much longer. The Clippers honed in to start the second half with their suffocating full-court trapping and man-to-man pressure defenses and made short work of the Patriots to win 66-50 and advance to the second round of the tournament.
A layup and three-point basket and a steal for a layup by sophomore Maurice Nelson, the younger brother of former Chester and St. Josephs and current Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson, gave the Clippers a 38-28 lead to start the second half. Nelson, who looked like he learned from his big brother as he flashed his complete game as a ball handler and scorer, scored nine points in the quarter.
“We’ve got to push it up two more levels,” Chester coach Larry Yarbray said he told the Clippers at halftime. “I thought we were playing at one gear. We picked up our defense. We were paying attention more and we focused.”
Red Land didn’t score its first points of the second half until Nick Liddell’s jumper at 5:40. The Patriots slipped behind by 50-35 before scoring the final three points of the quarter to trail 50-38 after three.
Chester coasted from there. The Clippers largest lead was 64-42 when Jefferson took a lob pass from guard Laquan Robinson on a fast break and dunked it.
Nelson led the Clippers with 18 points and Jefferson had 14. Learon Pray had nine and freshman Erikk Wright came off the bench to score eight.
“We want to run plays for our key guys and Nelson’s one of our key guys,” said Yarbray. “Rahlir is one of our keys guys. You’ve got to play it like Batman and Robin.”
Freshman Mike Zangari came off the bench to lead the Patriots with 11 points. Nick Liddell had 10 and brother Max had nine.