By Rich Flanagan
Brian Randolph III could sense it.He and the Chester Clippers trailed by one point with less then 10 seconds to play. A miss off of a one-and-one and he knew the ball was going to be in his hands with an opportunity to win it. He had practiced this time and time again. The crowd’s cheer had grown immensely during Chester’s comeback and it was going to reach its apex once he sealed the game.
Unfortunately, the crowd noise that greeted him came from the Abington Heights faithful.
Randolph’s missed layup as time expired lifted Abington Heights to a 49-48 victory over Chester in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A Tournament at Liberty High School.
The Comets ended the Clippers season for the second year in a row in the same gym. Last year, Abington Heights pulled out a five-point win in double overtime of the state quarterfinals, and this game had a similar atmosphere.
After the Comets’ Jackson Danzig stepped to the line and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12.1 seconds remaining, Karell Watkins secured one of his seven rebounds and made an outlet pass to Randolph. The 6-3 senior guard did the only thing any player with that much confidence fueled by a ferocious comeback would do: Drive straight to the hole to win it.
(click on this link for the full story)
Webmaster’s note: The Abington Heights vs Chester PIAA 5A Round 2 playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link by clicking on the player below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS