Anna-Jonesboro edges Yellow Jackets
In the end, it came down to the bunnies.
Ian Reith scored 14 points and Keith Kiner III added 12, but too many missed layups ultimately cost Chester in a 47-42 nonconference loss to Anna-Jonesboro on Tuesday.
"It was the easy ones," said Chester coach Brad Norman. "We probably missed five or six right underneath the rim.
"I think everybody in the starting lineup probably missed a layup."
With the Wildcats clinging to a 44-40 lead with less than four and a half minutes to play, the Yellow Jackets (7-3) missed two golden opportunities to bite deeper into the deficit when Kiner missed a pair of layups off of A-J turnovers.
Sheldon McGrath drained one of two free throws with 1:36 left to end a three-minute scoring drought for the Wildcats (8-2), but a putback by Kiner 22 seconds later brought Chester within three at 45-42.
That would be as close as the Yellow Jackets would get as A-J finished out the game at the free-throw line. Chester had a final chance to make things interesting, but missed four shots on one possession as the seconds ticked away.
"I thought our ability to get the lead in the first half and then never give it up," said Anna-Jonesboro coach Mike Chamness on what the difference was in the game. "I was worried if (Chester) got the lead, what it may do to us, our confidence, but we were never able to give it up."
Chester held a 4-2 lead early, but A-J rallied to take a 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats then built it into a 25-18 advantage after a 3-pointer by Ross Pinnon with 57 seconds left before halftime.
A-J took a 25-19 lead into the locker room.
"They did a really good job on (Jake) Parr," Chamness said. "We had other guys make shots. Pinnon and (Jacob) Zimmerman both made shots and that was probably the difference."
Parr led A-J with 12 points, while three other Wildcats - Pinnon (8), Zimmerman (9) and Logan Sawyer (8) - contributed at least eight in the winning effort.
"They were on the inside of us the majority of the night and they did a good job of establishing ourselves," Norman said. "We couldn't get any extra tipbacks or any extra offensive boards or anything like that, which is what we need when we're looking for a bucket."
Drake Bollman added nine points for Chester in its final tuneup before the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, which started Tuesday in Sesser.
"We missed enough (layups) to lose and our free throws aren't very good right now, Colin (Wingerter) went down with an injury and Nick's (Heffernan) already injured, so we're playing with a short bench," Norman said. "We've just got to figure out ways to get wins in games like this."
Wingerter appeared to tweak his left ankle at the end of the third quarter, but finished the game for Chester. Heffernan recently rolled an ankle at practice and arrived to the game on crutches.
In the underclass contests that preceded the varsity game, the Chester freshmen beat A-J 45-41 after beginning their game with a 12-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets JV also beat the Wildcats, 49-43.