Yellow Jackets take fourth
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ In the first round of last week's Chester Invitational, the host team earned an easy 73-44 win over Joppa. Chester jumped out to a 17-9 lead after one quarter then put the game out of reach when they outscored the Rangers 28-10 in the second quarter.
Offensive leaders included Zach Lochhead with 19 points, Justin Woodward with 16, Matt Heberlie with seven, Reed Koenemann with six, Brandon Straight, Caleb Arbeiter and Chris Schwartz with four each, Greg Rowold and Seth Johnson with three apiece, Dalton Misuraca, Matt Chandler and Brandon Young with two each, and Kyle Landon with one. Alex Copley had 18 for Joppa.
Chester lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals to Saxony Lutheran by a score of 72-68 despite one of the top offensive performances in tournament history from Lochhead. He connected on nine shots from three-point range, which tied the tournament record. He finished with a total of 43 points, just off the tournament record of 45 set by Fiene from Steeleville in 1994.
The Yellow Jackets had a strong first half and were up by seven at halftime, but the Crusaders rallied in the third quarter to take a one-point lead. Saxony outscored Chester 20-17 in the final period to come away with the win.
Other scorers for Chester were Chandler with nine, Woodward with six, Landon and Arbeiter with three each and Straight and Schwartz with two apiece. Saxony Lutheran was led by Brayton Klaus with 23 points
Chester suffered another tough loss in Saturday's third-place contest when they fell to New Athens by a score of 49-47. Both teams made some key turnovers and seemed to struggle finding their shots in the first half. Chester trailed 11-8 after one quarter, but they held New Athens scoreless for over seven minutes of the second period and took a 19-13 lead into halftime.
Chester appeared to be in control when they scored the first four points of the third quarter to increase their lead to 10, but New Athens then began to climb their way back into the contest. They cut the margin to two points by the end of the third quarter, then took their first lead since the opening seconds of the game with 2:05 left in the fourth. Chester still had a chance when they trailed by only two with seconds left, but their inbounds pass was stolen by Vince Kiefer of New Athens. He made the basket, was fouled and made a free throw to put New Athens up 49-44. A desperation three-pointer by Woodward at the buzzer made the final 49-47.
Leading scorers for Chester were Lochhead with 18 points, Woodward with 15, Chandler with five, Straight with four, Arbeiter with three and Koeneman with two. Chandler was the leading rebounder with six. Kiefer led all scorers with 28 points, including 21 in the second half.