City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@dan arkans)

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Towamencin – The Chester Charter Academy boys basketball team isn’t about making statements yet.

The Sabers are just trying to mesh as a group and bring a city-type energy to the Bicentennial Athletic League.

As far as statements go though Chester Charter made a big one on Wednesday night with a 62-56 win over Dock that put an end to the Pioneers’ BAL win streak at 52 games.

“I was at Math, Civics and Sciences for 19 years,” said Sabers head coach Lonnie Diggs. “We are used to playing in big games, winning big games. We are trying to bring that same winning culture here. I want to get it to the point like these are the wins we are supposed to get.”

It was most notably a statement win because of what it means to the entire BAL. The kings were dethroned for a night by a more hot-shooting aggressive squad, which had just suffered an 85-75 loss to Delco Christian.

“We are trying to infuse more talent to the Bicentennial League,” Diggs said. “We would like to bring the standing of the league up. We have some good talent in the league. Delco Christian is good, Dock is always good, so we want to bring the league up and we want to be at the top.”

Chester Charter was mostly looking to bounce back from a 10-point league loss. The Sabers were intent on bringing more defense, energy and a stronger start to Dock. After a 15-7 start, that mission was accomplished.

“It’s definitely a big win, to get back on top,” said senior guard Josiah Huston. “Main thing is just to be winning, just to come in and play hard. We have been sluggish, starting off slowly. We knew if we started off fast we would control the game.”

CCA was hitting its shots from the start in taking a 15-7 lead after one and holding a 26-20 advantage at halftime. While Jah Sabb and Hutson were controlling the game and their shots for the Sabers, Tony Martin scored 14 of the Pioneers' first 20 points and finished with 25 for game-high honors.

“Tony is such a warrior,” Dock head coach Mike Fergus said. “I have said it before, he’s the MVP of the league. Dock doesn’t typically get MVPs, I don’t know why. He does everything for us. He guards the best player, he rebounds, he doesn’t come out of games. He plays hard from wire to wire. He’s a warrior. I love him to death.”

Martin exchanged plenty of friendly words with Sabb, who not only scored 21 points himself, but was in a defensive battle with the Dock senior all night.

“I have been in situations like that my whole life,” Sabb said. “Dogfights, the pressure, that's what I want. I am cool with it. It was never a problem with guarding him. We just had to tighten up.” 

While Martin kept the Pioneers in the game for the first 16 minutes, he got help from his friends in the second half. Dock lost its timidness after the break, even taking a 34-32 lead midway through the third quarter on a putback from Xavier Mitchell. That’s when the energy in the building and on court was really turned up a notch.

“We knew what Dock has done in the league,” Diggs said. “They haven’t lost a game in the league in a few years. It’s something we wanted today and the guys worked for.”

The Pioneers were gaining momentum, but it turns out Hutson and Sabb were just getting started. The dynamic backcourt duo scored the final 11 points of the frame, including a stepback 3-pointer from Hutson which gave CCA a 43-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Jo is a phenomenal player man,” Sabb said of his backcourt mate. “Sometimes his shots … he makes them. There’s nothing I can say. I am used to it now.”

“It looks crazy, he makes some off-balance shots,” Diggs said. “It’s kind of what he does. We let him do it.” 

Dock wasn’t dead just yet either, tying the game up at 46 with six minutes to go. It turns out Huston was just warming up.

The senior transfer from Cheltenham somehow got caught in the lane, threw up a left-handed floater for an old-fashioned three-point play, which gave the Sabers a 49-46 lead. 

“I have been in these types of situations, it’s just taking time with every shot,” Huston said. “Get the best quality shot. If you are going to get the best quality shot you are going to capitalize on it.” 

CCA never trailed again despite Dock getting within 51-50 with 3:30 to go. Chester Charter nailed down the win by shooting 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

“We missed a couple of shots,” Fergus said. “We had a turnover, they had a couple of crazy makes. Full fadeways, 3 pointers laying on your back, what are you going to do? I told the guys we were going to lose sooner or later. It’s better to lose to a good team. We were ready to play. They beat us. 52 is pretty solid.”

Quarter by quarter scoring

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Chester Charter 15-11-17-19-62

Dock 7-13-19-17-56

Scoring

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Chester Charter (62): Sabb 21; Miller 8; Lewis 2; Gregory 6; Hutson 20; Robinson 4; Barnes 1

Dock (56): Mitchell 4; Martin 25; Rollerson 6; Brown 2; Sukaly 7; Panaia 8; Deng 4.