City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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CHESTER — Chester boys basketball’s season looked like it was over with two minutes and change remaining in the third quarter of Saturday’s PIAA Class 6A first-round game against Reading.

For a brief moment, an 18-point second-half comeback resurrected the hopes of the Clippers and their fans, who didn’t get a chance to cheer on the team in March 2023 during a rare absence from the district and state tournaments.

Those hopes lingered until the final buzzer when Reading made a second defensive stop to hold onto a 65-63 win and advance to the second round of the state tournament, ending Chester’s bounce-back campaign and miraculous comeback attempt.

“That hurt,” Chester senior Dominic Toy said. “I’m not gonna lie. We tried, though. It was fun though.”

“We fought. Everybody left it out there for sure.”

Chester’s district semifinal run included battles with District 1 powers Plymouth Whitemarsh, Coatesville and Lower Merion. Saturday’s matchup with Reading pitted the two winningest programs in Pennsylvania history against each other — the only two programs with more than 2,000 wins.

Reading senior Yadiel Cruz recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds, including eight points in the fourth. Senior Malik Osumanu added 15. Senior Dante Atkinson had 16 for the Clippers, scoring 10 in the final period. A block by junior 6-foot-3 forward Xavier Beatty allowed the Red Knights, the defending state champions, to escape The Clip Joint with a win.

“We’ve handled some adversity throughout the season, and we did a great job of just being able to keep our composure and staying together in order to close that game out,” Reading coach Francis Camara said. “This is one of the toughest gyms to win in the state of PA. You have to be doing something right if you get a win, whether it’s by one point or 10 points.”

The teams traded runs, with Reading going up 16-3 then Chester scoring 11 straight to tighten things 16-14 at the end of the first. The Red Knights had a strong close to the second to go up 33-20 at halftime. As Chester started to gain momentum, Reading senior guard Nick Chapman sparked a run of eight unanswered to go up 52-34 on a 3 by senior Daquan Burgess with 2:12 left in the third.

Just when it appeared the Red Knights were ready to punch their ticket to the second round, Chester reeled off 12 in a row of its own to ignite the home crowd. Junior Dallas Thompson hit a 3 to close the third quarter with the Clippers still trailing 52-46 but riding all kinds of momentum.

“We’re a team that plays hard every single play,” said Thompson, who finished with 12 points. “We don’t get good starts all the time, but we definitely finish out the game strong and we find a rhythm somewhere in the half throughout the crowd, our coaches. The energy here is different.”

“One thing about Chester, we never put our heads down,” Toy said.

Chester came all the way back to tie the game 58-58 with 3:08 remaining. Reading went back up by four with two straight buckets. Atkins scored a bucket, and Toy cut the lead back down to one when he split a pair of free throws with 35.1 seconds to go. 

A Reading turnover with 16.2 seconds left gave Chester a chance to take the lead. Thompson made a nice move to get into the lane, but Red Knights senior guard Nico Sosa made an even better play to tie him up and give the ball back to Reading.

After junior Weshly Rosario split a pair of free throws to put the Red Knights up two, Chester had 5.5 seconds left to go the length of the court. The ball ended in Thompson’s hands again. This time he drove down the left baseline before Beatty skied for the block.

“We hang our hat on our defense,” Camara said. “We’re not the best offensive team. The reason we’re playing in state right now, and the reason why we continue to keep fighting for another 32 minutes, is because we play great defense.”

There was some confusion at the buzzer. The Clippers wanted a foul call. It looked like there might have been some time left on the clock. But when the referees sprinted off the court and into the locker room, Chester’s season was officially over.

“There was no hesitation at all. I knew my role, knew what I had to do, just get to the basket,” Thompson said. “I believe there should have been a foul call. They said it was, but they waved it off at the end of the game.”

Reading, which will face District 10 champion McDowell in the second round Wednesday, doesn’t have many familiar faces from last year’s run, including Camara, who is in his first year at the helm of the program. 

The Red Knights, who finished as the Berks County runner-up and reached the semifinals of the District 3 tournament, are looking to continuing finding a way to get the job done.

“They’ve been part of the program a long time, and they’ve been in the shadows,” Camara said. “These guys are stepping out of the shadows, and they want to make their name known too.”

The loss stings for Chester, particularly seniors like Toy, Atkinson, Calvin Williams, Andre Brown and Vincent Coleman. There’s no reason to think the Clippers won’t be back on this stage again next season.

“It’s definitely a big bounce back from last year,” Thompson said.

“Not being able to make the playoffs last year, we came in with a mindset to try and win this year and make it far in the playoffs. We came up short both times. … It’s a sour taste in our mouth, but I feel like we can make something happen next year.”

By Quarter

Reading  16 | 17 | 19 | 13 || 65

Chester  14 | 6 | 26 | 17 || 63

Scoring

Reading: Yadiel Cruz 19, Malik Osumanu 15, Nick Chapman 11, Weshly Rosario 8, Daquan Burgess 6, Jeremiah Chamara 2, Xavier Beatty 2, Nico Sosa 2.

Chester: Dante Atkinson 16, Daron Harris 13, Dallas Thompson 12, Dominic Toy 12, Jalen Harris 6, Jaseir Thompson 2.

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PIAA 6A Boys (local games)

First Round (Sat., March 9)
12-3 Archbishop Wood 81, 1-5 Methacton 73
1-1 Lower Merion 85, 3-6 Cedar Crest 55
1-3 West Chester Henderson 80, 2-2 Hazleton Area 73
3-4 Reading 65, 1-4 Chester 63
3-5 Central York 69, 1-2 Garnet Valley 60
12-1 Roman Catholic 63, 1-11 Downingtown West 37
1-6 Coatesville 57, 11-2 Liberty 46 (2OT)
1-8 Springfield (Delco) 59, 12-2 Lincoln 43
11-1 Parkland 65, 1-10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 35
3-1 Cumberland Valley 84, 1-12 Bensalem 59
1-9 Spring-Ford 55, 2-1 Scranton 52
3-2 Chambersburg 72, 1-7 Central Bucks East 41

Second Round (Wed., March 13)
1-1 Lower Merion vs. 12-3 Archbishop Wood
1-8 Springfield (Delco) vs. 1-9 Spring-Ford
1-3 West Chester Henderson vs. 12-1 Roman Catholic
3-1 Cumberland Valley vs. 1-6 Coatesville