Chester’s Dante Atkinson goes to the basket during the second half of Saturday’s PIAA Class 6A first round game against Reading. (Bill Snook/For Media News Group)
By Matthew DeGeorge
Weshly Rosario had the right mindset at halftime, though he and his Reading teammates let it wane by the end of the third quarter.
Up 13 at the break at the Fred Pickett Gymnasium Saturday in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A Tournament, the sophomore guard knew that Chester wasn’t going to go quietly, even after a first half of haymakers.
“We went to the locker room and said, this is going to be crazy and we need to stay ready,” Rosario said. “We know we can finish good if we can stay together.”
But when the Red Knights unleashed their next salvo, knocking the Clippers down 18 points late in the third quarter, a little overconfidence crept in. For just a moment, Reading thought it might have one foot in the second round.
Instead, Reading required every second of the 32 minutes and a fortunate call at the buzzer to get there.
Chester trailed the entire way, and a shot by Dallas Thompson at the horn where he and Reading forward Xavier Beatty made a lot of contact went uncalled as Reading survived a 65-63 thriller.
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