Togetherness makes end more painful for Chester
CHESTER » The group text messages leading up to the game were full of optimism, the Chester High Clippers just one victory from playing for a state title for the first time since the 2013 season.
Coach Keith Taylor encourages his players to earn their status in the storied tradition of Chester basketball through sacrifice, solidarity, teamwork, friendship and purpose. In the gym and out of it, senior guard Jameel Burton added Monday night. And he was proud to be part of it.
“It was all about family,” Jameel Burton said. “He was really close to us. Everybody was close. Even off the court we were close, and I appreciate that a lot. I enjoyed that. Ninety percent of the team was in the group chat together. We see each other almost every day outside school, that’s how close we were. Some teams only see each other on the court. That’s not the case with us. Even after this season we’re going to be together almost every day.”
The Clippers (14-2) consoled each other Monday after a 84-63 loss to Archbishop Ryan in the PIAA 5A state semifinals at the Clip Joint. The score would have been more lopsided had the Clippers given in, as the Raiders exploded behind Aaron Lemon-Warren, who with 36 points evoked images of state final four games with Billy Owens and Carlisle, and 6-9 center Christian Tomasco, who dunked on the Clippers six times on his way to 26 points. The last jam made it seven on the evening for the Raiders, who did it by getting a step on a frenetic, swarming defense.
Taylor switched defenses, presses, personnel, you name it. The Clippers never led. The closest they were after any quarter was six points, entering the second period. By the end of the third quarter the oohs and ahs were deciding Archbishop Ryan, coached by Joe Zeglinski. When it wasn’t a thundering dunk by Tomasco, the Clippers were taking the ball out following a picturesque jump shot or layup from Lemon-Warren.
“They did great,” Burton said. “Can’t take anything away from them. Win the state title? Yeah, I actually do. I’m rooting for them.”
The setback was every bit as difficult for Taylor, the 1987 Chester graduate, card carrying member of the 1,000-point club and twotime runner-up as a player in the state semifinals.
During his last locker room talk of the season,
Taylor could see the pain in the eyes of his players. And they could see it in him. There was no shouting, no finger-pointing, just a promise to keep grinding, stay together and work to win on another day.
Taylor would not deny how emotional the semifinal setback was, particularly for the seniors “who left it all on the floor.”
“It’s tough to see that happen,” Taylor said. “You want so much for them to win a state championship and it just slips through your fingers. That’s the toughest part.”
Make no mistake, Taylor has that same passion. He was part of three of them with the late Fred Pickett, who won 313 games, three state championships and countless more than that off the floor as a probation officer. Taylor has that same understated concern for players.
“He wanted to break through,” Karell Watkins said of Taylor. “It’s really hard for him as a coach being as though we’ve been winning for four years and we fell short every year. It’s hard for him. He’s going through it right now. But he’ll be back. Back and better. Next year, the very next year, that’s going to be the year.”
Rest assured, Taylor will do everything in his power to get the Clippers back on track and in the process, be mentioned in the same breath with the championship-winning coaches at Chester.
No Clippers coach won more titles than Pickett, who had Jameer Nelson running the offense. Cliff Wilson secured the school’s first title in 1983 while late Alonzo Lewis (1989 and 1994) and Larry Yarbray (2011, 2012) had two titles each. Yarbray got his with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who the Clippers would have needed to beat the Raiders.
While Taylor was focused on the Raiders, nothing else over the weekend, it was impossible to stay 110 percent focused. How could anyone not daydream just for a second about what could be at the other end of all the hard work through the years?
You are what you dream.
“You try not to get ahead of yourself,” Taylor said.
“But yeah, you do. I had those thoughts of riding down Ninth Street in a parade celebrating with these guys. It’s just not going to happen. Not this year so we’ll keep pushing and we’ll be right back next year. We just ran into a buzzsaw tonight. And they continued to cut us up so many ways.”