City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HARRISBURG — Jamar Sudan may have already logged a full game when the Chester senior stepped back on the floor for the overtime tip, but fatigue wasn’t in the mix.

Sudan, in fact, felt like he had plenty of fuel left to burn.

So did his Clippers teammates.

Terrific throughout OT, Chester scored the first nine points of the extra session and wound up putting away a game Harrisburg side 67-54 in a splendid nonleague contest between traditional powers Saturday night at stuffed Kimber Gymnasium.

“Overtime was like the fourth quarter to us. Every practice we run over a mile at each practice,” Sudan said. “Overtime didn’t really hurt us. We was ready to go.”

Sudan scored seven of his game-high 18 points in overtime — he also grabbed nine rebounds — leading Larry Yarbray’s balanced Clippers (9-2) to their fifth straight victory.

Ranked eighth in City of Basketball Love’s latest set of Class 5A state rankings, Chester also picked up double-digit outings from Michael Smith (15), Brian Randolph III (10) and Jordan Camper (10). Camper also grabbed 12 boards to complete the double-double.

Yarbray’s club also was extremely effective at the foul line, canning 19 of their 23 freebies — including a perfect 9-for-9 in the overtime period.

Penn State football verbal commit Micah Parsons popped a double-double (14 points/18 rebounds) to lead Harrisburg (10-3), which had its seven-game winning streak brought to a close. Zion Patterson (11) and Tito Flemister also reached double figures for Kirk Smallwood’s Cougars, who led only once (4-2).

Harrisburg senior standout Chris Whitaker, who came in averaging 21.0 ppg, was limited to eight points as Randolph had primary cover and plenty of help when needed.

“We had to make an adjustment this year. Brian Randolph is our defensive stopper this year, not me,” Sudan said, a grin stretching across his face. “He has heart. He will pla against anybody and stop anybody. That’s my little cousin.

“We specialize in defense. Defense comes first in our family.”

“It wasn’t a typical Chris Whitaker kind of performance,” Smallwood said of Whitaker, who was 3-for-17 from the floor and snared five rebounds.

“I’m sure he’ll bounce back.”

Yet …

“It was never Brian Randolph versus Chris Whitaker, it was Chester versus the Cougars,” Sudan said. “That’s what we did. We used help defense to stop him.”

“That’s his role and he understands that. Every night we give him the challenge if it’s [Reading’s] Lonnie Walker, if it’s this guy here,” Yarbray said. That’s his role on the team and he takes it with pride. He gives it up, 120 percent all the time.”

And when Smith dropped in a layup with 3:04 to play in the third quarter that gave Chester a 43-33, the Clippers looked to be in terrific shape to bounce out with a satisfying road W. Harrisburg wasn’t about to concede, as Flemister and Patterson shared seven points and the Cougars had it to 47-42 by the end of three.

Benefiting from second and third opportunities — Smallwood’s Cougars were determined to win a lot of the 50-50 opportunities on the floor and on the glass — Harrisburg finally pulled even (50-50) on Patterson’s slash to the tin.

Just 4:34 remained.

Patterson was terrific off the bench for the Cougars, providing all sorts of energy and athleticism while adding two boards and five assists to his 11 points. He also was able to take Chester defenders off the bounce and get into the paint.

“He competed,” Smallwood said of Patterson, a Carlisle transfer. “He set the tempo for us and did a pretty good job defensively. He gave us what he could.”

And Patterson’s efforts almost delivered the ‘Burg a victory … but not quite.

While a Camper jam pushed Chester back in front at the 3:04 mark, the Cougars were down one moments later when Parsons bagged the back end of a two-shot look.

Another free throw from Whitaker — the 6-3 wing netted three second-half points — with 1:26 to play tied it.

“Any time these two teams get together, there’s going to be fireworks,” Smallwood said. “ I was happy with our defense in the fourth quarter, we held them to five points. And in the overtime it just looked like we ran out of gas.”

Chester appeared to be in position to go back in front, but Camper could not polish off another jam and Patterson latched on to the ball. Harrisburg promptly called time with 53.7 showing, preparing to hold the ball for one shot and a chance to win.

Yarbray’s Clippers didn’t waver.

Harrisburg never did get a look at the hoop, turning the ball over late. Chester tossed the ball in after a timeout, but stayed in the backcourt.

“Stay in front of your man, first of all,” Yarbray said of Chester’s tactics late in regulation. “But they were looking for No. 3 [Whitaker]. So if he’s in your area, be conscious of him because he’s the only one looking to take somebody one-on-one.

“They finally did, they fumbled the ball, he was lucky to get it with 3 seconds,” Yarbray added. “Let’s go to overtime and play from there.”

Given a fresh start, the Clippers didn’t waste it.

After Sudan and Smith each buried a pair to make it 56-52, Chester quickly extended its lead to seven when Sudan converted a conventional three-point play. At the other end, Harrisburg was limited to just a single shot on its first three possessions

“They stuck to their script. We knew what they was gonna do, unfortunately we couldn’t stop it until overtime,” Yarbray said. “Finally they understood what we were saying, got some stops, got some rebounds, limited them to one shot and we were able to finish the game luckily. We’ll take a win any we can get it this time of year.”

“It was hard. They turned the screws up defensively,” Smallwood said. “Forced us to shoot the ball from the perimeter and we didn’t get any second shots.”

“And they made foul shots. They made their free throws. “

Another Camper finish had the Clippers up nine, playing downhill and ready to pop another notch into a growing win column. Chester scored the final six points of OT just for good measure as Ahrod Carter, Camper and Sudan added to their numbers.

“Overtime was basically a humbling experience,” Sudan admitted. “We all came out and played together, pushed our way through and got the win.”

Another night, another testy encounter for a Chester club that’s already bagged a number of tight results. And that should play well in February and March.

“Our coach wants us to play the hardest competition,” Sudan said. “We’re not ducking any teams. Harrisburg gave it to us, but we came out with the win.”

“We’re learning. We’re learning as we go. It’s good to win those games. A year or two ago, we lost those games,” Yarbray added. “Let’s hope when we get to February, it gets a whole lot easier. They’re trying to kill me.”