Taylor and Chester buck odds again in state debut
PHILADELPHIA » Right or wrong, Chester High basketball coaches are measured by how they fare in state competition.
And so it is with Keith Taylor, the program’s rookie head coach.
Taylor didn’t just get the Clippers ready to battle Martin Luther King and 6-foot-9 giant William McNair Jr. Friday night in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs at South Philly High. He got them to play the way he did when the Clippers were a force in the state playoffs.
The Clippers scored almost half of their points on hustle plays in a 61-47 upset of the Cougars, who still are wondering how in the world they could be so much bigger, and so less effective.
Whether the Chester points came from loose balls, offensive rebounds or steals, backdoor inbounds passes or blind look passes, the Clippers (19-8) turned a four-point halftime lead into a 15-point cushion before spending the last 3:37 largely at the free throw line.
“You win in the states, you’re a Chester High coach,” said point guard Michael Smith, who contributed eight points and seven assists. “It’s good to give him one. But we’ve still got to take it a game at a time. We can’t get too bigheaded because we’ve got a long way to go.”
Chester missed too many shots to feel like they’ve arrived. After an outstanding start at the free throw line, they wound up 21-for-33, sinking just 7 of the homestretch.
That said, each time the Clippers had a hiccup, forward Karell Watkins seemed to be there to pick them up. The freshman scored eight of his gameand career-high 20 points in the second quarter to steer the Clippers into the second round of states Tuesday against Abington Heights, at a site and time to be determined.
Watkins added 10 rebounds, Brian Randolph had 11. When, that is, they weren’t frustrating McNair, who looked like he was ready to go off after a thundering one-handed dunk in the first quarter.
“My plan to stop a guy bigger than me is to front him,” Watkins said. “When you front him, he has to work twice as hard as when you’re in back of him. We brought him out of his game early. And we worked hard as a team. All I had to do when I got in was work hard. It was a big win. We were fired up. I was fired up in the warmup line. I was fired up on the bus. I’ve been thinking about this game since last night.”
Taylor, it’s safe to say, also has been thinking about this game for a while. The Clippers took the hard 13 down road to the states. The Christmas holiday was a time for soul searching, not cheer, as they were coming off a damaging loss to District 1 Class 5A champion Penncrest. That left the Clippers 1-5.
“After that we went on a 13-game winning streak before we lost to Rustin,” Taylor said. “We have a young team. We have a lot of young guys. I just kept telling them to keep working and playing the way we want to play.”
The Clippers are playing Keith Taylor basketball. If the shots aren’t falling, take the ball to the rack, draw a foul and whatever you do, don’t give up easy baskets.
The Clippers trailed just twice in the game, the Cougars (18-11) going ahead by a point in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Then they got caught scoreboard watching.
Taylor has been there, experienced that as a player some 30 years ago. A Chester High coach, you see, never forgets his first win in the states.
“I just want them to enjoy the moment and get back to work tomorrow at practice,” Taylor said. “But absolutely, I feel the electricity in the air. The guys are excited. They’re happy that they won and they’re just looking forward to the next challenge. It’s such a good feeling. And back then the coaches were preaching, one game at a time, one game at a time, just like we are now. This wasn’t an upset to us. It may be to other people. We knew what we had. Earlier in the year when they saw that 1-5, people said, ‘Oh they don’t have anything. They’re done.’
“We continued to play hard and showed heart.”