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Penn Wood, Washington hand Chester first home Del-Val loss since 2010

01/06/2023, 12:00am EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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CHESTER — Etched in a black box on the scuffed-up dry erase whiteboard that hangs in the visiting locker room in the bowels of Chester High School read a date on Thursday night: 2010. That’s how long it’s been since a Del-Val League team won at Chester. It’s a span that ran 58-straight games, covering almost 12 years.

Nasir Washington, Penn Wood’s 6-foot-3 senior guard, was five the last time a Del-Val team beat Chester at Chester. It was before he even had a basketball in his hands. He wanted to be Tom Brady long before he wanted to be LeBron James.

Washington certainly knew what to do with the basketball in his hands Thursday night, dropping a game-high 33 points in leading Penn Wood to a historic 64-54 victory over the traditional powerhouse Clippers.   

The Patriots (6-2 overall, 1-0 Del-Val) became the first Del-Val team to beat Chester at Chester, since, ironically, Penn Wood beat the Clippers 57-40 on February 4, 2010. It snapped Chester’s 58-game, 12-year home winning streak against league opponents.


Penn Wood coach Matt Lindeman, left, and Nasir Washington pose after Thursday's win over Chester. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

The Penn Wood victory also snapped Chester’s overall 43-game, five-year winning streak against Del-Val League opponents, becoming the first Del-Val team to beat the Clippers since Academy Park did it, 69-66, on February 7, 2017.

It speaks volumes of Chester’s dominance in the Del-Val through the years, and it also shows just how good Penn Wood may be this season.

“We knew the history, no one beat Chester here since 2010 and I’m 17 right now, so I was five the last time a Del-Val team beat Chester here,” said Washington, who reached 33 on 13-of-22 shooting, with 18 by halftime on 7-of-11 shooting. “(Penn Wood) Coach (Matt) Lindeman put the 2010 up on the dry board before the game to remind us.

“This is a big deal for us, and for me personally, coming over from West Philly, this was a great first step. We thought we could get open shots, because they don’t play much help defense. The first play of the game, I got the ball and hit a three and started from there.”

Penn Wood celebrated after the victory. The Patriots didn’t react like they won the Super Bowl, but they were whooping it up in the locker room afterward in a subtle way.

For Washington, this season has been a coming-out party. He scored 37 against Paul Robeson earlier in the season. This is only his second year of playing organized basketball and he’s developing into an unfound gem.  

“I put up 2010, the last time any Del-Val team won here, the last time we won or any Del-Val team won here,” Lindeman said. “Chester is a great program, with a great tradition, great players and great coaching. It’s incredibly tough to win here, so this was a great step.

“Nasir has been great for us. He’s still learning the game. He has so much to improve on, so he’s going to be even better. We expect to have a good season. We wanted to remind the guys that this place is an impossible place to win. You don’t just walk into Chester and win. It’s been a long time. You come down here to the locker room at halftime ahead, and you leave losing by 10.

“It’s the way Chester has always been. The 2010 on the board was a reminder of that. We’re excited for this win and we know there is a lot to improve on. We knew Chester would make a run, as good as we played in the first half. I love how those Chester kids never quit.”

Penn Wood led from start to finish, and was up by 15 three times in the first half and by 35-17 with 7:26 left in the third quarter. That’s when the Clippers began applying their vaunted pressure and the lead slowly melted to 50-44 midway through the fourth quarter.  

It’s when Washington came up twice with huge three-pointers, one with 4:39 to play and Chester on an 8-0 run, and the clincher with 1:12 left, giving the Patriots a 59-47 lead.

Breilynd White led Chester with 20 points, with Terrence Cobb adding 14. Washington was supported by Mekhi Shillingford’s 10 and Donald Hairston’s 9.

“We have a young team that has to learn how to win,” Chester coach Keith Taylor said. “We can’t keep putting ourselves in a hole at the start, and then fighting to get back. You wear yourself out doing that, and you start making turnovers. That’s what’s happening to us. We know we have that target on our backs every night.

“Washington was a monster. He killed us. He’s tough. Matt did a really good job over there. We know the history. This is the first time I lost a Del-Val game and I’m in my sixth year.

“I told the kids afterward that we have to start another streak. I didn’t think this would be a rebuilding year for us, but it is. We’re learning and growing. Dominic Toy is stepping up and playing well, and Kyree Womack is slowed right now, but hurt or not, he’s a gamer.

“We need to keep pushing and we have Bartram on Saturday. We need to take better care of the basketball.”

Chester lost a few streaks on Thursday night. Though the Clippers have another program milestone that looms: They’re three wins shy of reaching the program’s 2,000th school victory. Reading is the only other boys’ high school basketball program in Pennsylvania with more than 2,000 school victories and Chester would be the 10th nationally to achieve that status.

“We’re not done yet,” Taylor said. “We’re a program that keeps on pushing.”

By Quarter

Penn Wood (6-2, 1-0 Del-Val):  14   | 18  |  13  |  19 ||  64

Chester (4-6, 0-1 Del Val):  6   | 11  |  19  | 18 ||  54

Scoring

Penn Wood: Nasir Washington 33, Mekhi Shillingford 10, Donald Hairston 9, Anthony Murray 8, Sadiq Fountain 4.

Chester: Breilynd White 20, Terrence Cobb 14, Donte Atkinson 4, Kyree Womack 3, Dallas Thompson 3, Dominic Toy 2, Jerry Young 2, Calvin Williams Jr. 2.

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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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