Akeem Taylor came through when Chester needed him most.
Taylor hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game with South Philadelphia High to overtime, then tallied the first four points of the extra session to put the Clippers up for good in a 79-74 nonleague victory.
Taylor set his career-high as a Clipper with 24 points. (He’d had three 30-point games as a sophomore at Chester Charter School for the Arts). Rahmee Gilbert added a career-best 23 points, and Fareed Burton and Karell Watkins added 13 points each. All the points came from Chester’s starting five.
Southern took the lead into halftime thanks to a 30-13 edge in the second quarter, but Chester stormed back with a 27-11 third quarter, powered by 10 points from Gilbert and nine from Taylor. Gilbert was 11-for-13 from the line, and Chester (4-1) converted on eight of its 12 trips to the charity stripe in the extra session.
In other nonleague action: