Chester suffers tough losses
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The Chester Yellow Jackets took to the court three times last we eek, resulting in one win and two narrow defeats. First up was Shawnee on Monday. Chester dominated play in the second and third quarters and led by as much as 12 points, but Shawnee came roaring back in the fourth, outscoring Chester 25-9 to take a 63-61 win.
Zach Lochhead was the leading scorer with 24 points, Kyle Landon and Matt Chandler put in 10 each, Justin Woodward scored eight, Caleb Arbeiter had six and Brandon Straight added four. Ty McMahan was the leading scorer for Shawnee with 18 points.
Tuesday's contest against Christopher saw the Bearcats come out on top by a score of 55-51. Chester led by five after the first quarter but was outscored by Christopher in each of the last three quarters. The highlight of the game for Chester fans was Lochhead passing the 1,000 point mark for his career. He is only the eighth player to reach that milestone in the history of Chester basketball and the first to do so since 1998.
Lochhead finished with 19 points while Woodward had 13, Chris Schwartz put in 10, Straight had four, Arbeiter put in three and Matt Heberlie added two. Kolten Pedigo and Devin Austill led Christopher with 14 points each.
Chester wrapped up their week with a rare Saturday afternoon home game as part of the Black Diamond Shootout. To their credit, Chester was able to shake off the two disappointing losses and defeat Vienna by a score of 61-52. The Yellow Jackets came out strong and took a 20-8 lead after one quarter. Vienna did rally several times late in the game to get to within three points but never could get any closer. Chester hit 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Lochhead had 23 points, Schwartz scored 13, Woodward and Chandler put in nine each and Arbeiter added seven. Chandler, Woodward and Schwartz each pulled down several key rebounds for Chester. Stephen Sullivan was the offensive leader for Vienna with 13 points.
The junior varsity team continued their winning ways with three big victories last week. In a 53-34 win over Shawnee, Casey Venable had nine points and Jacob Cowan scored eight. Against Christopher, Schwartz scored 14 and Dalton Misuraca and Kyle Landon had 10 each as part of a 59-32 win. In a 56-42 win over Vienna the leaders were Greg Rowold with nine and Misuraca with seven.