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District 1 5A: Womack leads Chester past Radnor in OT classic

03/05/2022, 6:00pm EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

PHILADELPHIA — Everyone was jumping up and down, and jumping on each other in a black-and-orange mosh pit. Chester’s Kyree Womack wanted to do the same. The problem was his body wasn’t too willing. He had his sneakers off and was walking gingerly in socks limping on both legs at Temple’s Liacouras Center on Saturday.

His Chester teammates refer to Womack as “Benjamin Button,” since he can have the tendency to walk around like an old man. The Clippers’ sophomore guard has battled bad feet and knees all season. Sometimes, he’ll get held out of practice to ease the stress on his sore limbs.


Kyree Womack (above) had 20 points in Chester's district championship win on Saturday. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

When the pressure is on, however, Womack certainly doesn’t move like a geriatric. There’s an easy alacrity to his game, especially in tense moments, like in the PIAA District 1 5A championship against Radnor.

Womack’s three-point bank shot sent the game into overtime with 4.7 seconds left in regulation and his driving layup with 7.1 seconds left in overtime won it for Chester, 66-65.

It marked the second-straight PIAA District 1 5A title for No. 2-seed Chester (18-3), thanks to Womack’s team-high 20 points, followed by Kevin Rucker’s 11 and Larenzo Jerkins’ 10.

Radnor (22-4) was looking to win its first district title in boys’ basketball since 1961, and the Raptors came very close, aided by a game-high 21 points from Jackson Hicke, Danny Rosenblum’s 16 and Cooper Mueller’s 12.

But in the end, it was Womack who carried the Clippers on his shredded feet and achy knees to win the traditional powerhouse Chester’s 25th District 1 title in school history.

Seconds after the game, Womack had his sneakers off celebrating with his teammates during the district championship medal presentation. He was limping on both legs back to the dressing room.

Kyree Womack (center, eyes closed) celebrates with his Chester teammates after scoring 20 points in the District 1 Class 5A championship game.
(Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

“That’s because the skin is off the bottom of my feet, because I go hard,” Womack said. “I walk around like an old man during practice (laughs), so my teammates yell ‘Benjamin Button, Benjamin Button’ (the movie character from the Brad Pitt movie who ages in reverse, starting life as an old man). My knees are that bad.

“I have to wear double socks to protect the bottom of my feet.”

Hitting dramatic shots seem to be a theme for Womack. As a freshman, he hit three free throws against Crestwood. He followed that up hitting the huge bank shot three-pointer against Radnor.

“I play in pain, but once I get warmed up and get into the game, the adrenaline takes over and I’m okay,” Womack said. “I wanted the ball in my hands. I didn’t want to go home without that (district) trophy. I wanted to win the district title back-to-back. I still have to watch myself at practice. I practice, I’m just not that active because of my knees.

“I may feel my feet during games, but I play with no fear.”

Womack doesn’t.

Trailing 58-55, Womack threw up what looked like a prayer that bounced off the square of the backboard and went in with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. Radnor could not get a last shot. The Raptors did not help themselves, missing nine free throws in the fourth quarter.

They had multiple chances to gain four- and five-point leads in the last :50 seconds and couldn’t convert.

“That was our second goal out of three, accomplishing the first two, winning the Del-Val League, and repeat as district champions, and now the third goal is winning a state title,” Chester coach Keith Taylor said. “That’s a good team over there, with hard-nosed kids. They didn’t do anything to surprise us, they just played hard.

“Kyree lives for these moments. When (Womack shot the tying three-pointer) I was thinking, ‘I hope that s—t goes in.’ Everyone was on pins-and-needles, and the whole thing looked like it was going in slow motion. We played through no matter what was going on, some folks were complaining about refs and all of that stuff, you still have to play.

“We call Kyree Benjamin Button, because he’s always walking like an old man, but when it comes game time, he’s ready to play.”

Radnor took the loss extremely hard. It’s a core group of juniors that have been playing together for a while. They left frustrated, knowing the number of chances they had to win it in regulation and overtime.

Raptors’ coach Jamie Chadwin, who’s done an amazing job this season, reminded his team afterward that the PIAA Class 5A state playoffs are up next—and there is a chance Radnor and Chester may meet again.

As for the difference in the game, “I think they shot the 3 incredibly well, we hadn’t seen them shoot the 3 anywhere near as well as that in the 10 films that I watched,” Chadwin said. “So, credit to them for doing that, and maybe that’s a little more of their MO, but in the games that we saw, they really preferred to attack.

“And look, they made plays, they made plays.”

Afterward, Hicke was still trying to process the loss. Hicke, who at times was unstoppable, carried the Raptors by himself through the third quarter, scoring 12 of his game-high 21.

“It definitely hurts and we should have won it, but the (missed) free throws in the end hurt us,” said Hicke, who scored 18 in the second half. “A few different bounces and who knows. We did gain respect from this. Our season is far from over, and I think we can make a deep run in the state with this team.

“I have to work on starting better. For whatever reason, I become more aggressive in the second half and that had to be my mindset from the start. This was a draining game and we make the free throws in the end, we win.”

By Quarter
Radnor:  10  |  13  |  16  |  19  |   7   ||  65
Chester: 10  |  16  |  16  |  16  |   8   ||  66

Shooting
Radnor: 21-41 FG (2-9 3PT), 21-35 FT
Chester: 26-59 FG (6-13 3PT), 8-11 FT

Scoring
Radnor: Jackson Hicke 21, Danny Rosenblum 16, Cooper Mueller 12, Charlie Thornton 9, Pierce Justice 5, Michael Savadove 2

Chester: Kyree Womack 20, Kevin Rucker 11, Larenzo Jerkins 10, Breilynd White 9, Isaiah Freeman 8, Qadir Lowrie 6, Yinka Itabiyi 2

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


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