By Stephen Pianovich
At halftime of a five-point game, Chester’s coaching staff pointed a statistic from the first 16 minutes.
“We were 1-for-11 from three in the first half,” said senior forward Marquis Collins. “So we basically said no more threes. Their tallest guy was only about 6-foot-6 and we knew we could get to the rim.”
That game plan was evident in a dominant second half for the Clippers, who pounded the ball inside, got most of their points from the paint and the foul line and pulled away for a 74-49 victory over Spring-Ford in a meeting of District 1 teams at Cheltenham High School. Chester advanced to the Class AAAA PIAA quarterfinals, where it will face Reading on Saturday.
After shooting just 35.4 percent from the floor in the first half – which included that lousy 1-for-11 mark from distance – Chester got much more high-percentage looks in the second half. The Clippers (23-7) went 17-for-28 from the floor over the final 16 minutes, and just five of those shots were from beyond the arc (two of which found the bottom of the basket).
After Spring-Ford was able to get back in the game thanks to the long ball before halftime, Chester had eventually bullied its way to a 15-point advantage early in the fourth quarter.
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