Loss to Schenley has Chester's coach crying foul

You can add one more foul to the 48 that were whistled yesterday in the Chester-Schenley boys' basketball game.

Foul No. 49 came courtesy of Fred Pickett's postgame mood.

The Chester coach was livid over a six-minute stretch that saw his entire starting frontcourt exit by way of fouls. As a matter of fact, he was none too pleased about the entire second half of officiating - a half that saw Pittsburgh Schenley tally 54 points on its way to a convincing 85-74 victory.

Playing as the feature attraction in the five-game Frankford Hospitals Boys Classic at Cardinal O'Hara High, Chester and Schenley played a physical brand of basketball, often held in check by the referees. However, it was the Clippers who were more often victimized by the zebras.

It didn't appear that way early in the second quarter when Schenley's DeJuan Blair was called for his third foul. The 6-foot-7, Pittsburgh-bound forward took a seat for the rest of the first half as Chester rebounded from an 18-5 deficit to trail, 31-30, at intermission.

The bruising Blair, though, kept his foul total at three, surprising a certain critic.

"You're damn right I was surprised," Pickett said. "He was still bumping. He was still drop-stepping. He was still shoving and they didn't blow the whistle."

There were plenty of tweets in a chippy third quarter as Chester's Russell Johnson and Schenley's Deandre Kane were issued double technical fouls for jawing at each other. After the mess was sorted out, Johnson, a 6-foot-6 junior, was called for another technical and ejected from the game after he exchanged words with two Spartans.

"They said he blew a kiss," Pickett said. "But they were both taunting him."

At that point, Schenley led, 51-40, and was riding the backs of Blair (23 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks) and D.J. Kennedy. Blair accounted for 10 of his points in the period, while the 6-5 Kennedy accounted for 13 of his game-high 26 points.

Chester (14-3) was inflicted again when its headliner, Nasir Robinson, picked up his fourth foul with 1.9 seconds left in the third quarter, and then his game-ending fifth two minutes later. At that point, Schenley was cruising, 66-51, but matters got worse for the Clippers when Rahlir Jefferson departed with his fifth foul.

Meanwhile, through all of Chester's woes, Schenley (15-2) kept attacking the hoop, wearing down the Clippers. Point guard Karon Burton (25 points) tried his best to keep Chester close, but essentially the Clippers just didn't shoot well enough.

Chester, ranked third in the state in Class AAAA, shot 25 of 68 from the field and 16 of 29 from the line. No. 1 Schenley hit 31 of 48 and 23 of 40.

Schenley, the state runner-up a year ago to Lower Merion, felt as if it came east with something to prove.

"If you're looking at how the rankings are, they're third and we're one, so maybe that settles some of the discussion," said Schenley coach Fred Skrocki.

Many believe yesterday's game could be a preview of the state final in State College. Schenley has pretty much the same rotation back from last year, while Chester, one of the state's glamour programs, is always a threat to come out of the East.

Schenley 19 12 29 25 - 85

Chester8 22 15 29 - 74

S: DeJuan Blair 23, D.J. Kennedy 26, Jamaal Bryant 9, Deandre Kane 14, Greg Blair 11, Miles Porter 2.

C: Nasir Robinson 13, Russell Johnson 5, Rahlir Jefferson 3, Micah Covert 11, Karon Burton 25, Kevin Green-Germany 8, Mark Burrell 2, Raheem Bowman 3, Marvin Dukes 2, Justin Wright 2.

Prep Charter 66, Harrisburg 52 - No. 2-ranked Harrisburg expects to be among Schenley's toughest challenges out of the West. The Cougars, though, lost to Prep Charter in the game preceding Chester-Schenley.

It was the first loss of the season for Harrisburg (14-1) and gave Class AA Prep Charter (11-3) a big boost with a victory over a AAAA team.

Harrisburg13 12 15 12 - 52

Prep Charter13 22 13 18 - 66

H: Quincy Roberts 15, Ricardo Brown 5, Jhordan Royal 2, Alphonso Dawson 6, Laron Williams 6, Artis Cameron 7, Darryl Baltimore 1, Quentin Johnson 2, Lamar Drayton 8.

PC: Marcus Morris 19, Markieff Morris 8, Kevin Radford 5, Parrish Grant 11, Jesse Morgan 17, Ferguson Myrick 2, Tyree Harris 4.

Roman Catholic 82, Gratz 67 - The offensive combination of Bradley Wanamaker with 24 points and Brian Wanamaker with 21 fueled the Cahillites (13-3) past the Bulldogs (16-5).

Simon Gratz16161619-67

Roman Catholic19251820-82

SG: Sebree Johnson 7, Josh Martin 22, Ishmawiyl McFadden 9, Alibaba Odd 8, Tommie Sykes 6, Charles White 13, Travis White 2.

RC: Rakeem Brookins 3, Nick Daggett 2, Will Kirkland 3, Brian McBeth 3, Courtney Stanley 10, Brian Wanamaker 21, Bradley Wanamaker 24, Maalik Wayns 16.

Pennsbury 48, Lower Merion 39 - In the opening game of the showcase, the Falcons (16-3) turned a seven-point halftime deficit into a win over the Aces (14-6).

Lower Merion519105-39

Pennsbury6112110-48

LM: Eric Barefield 2, Adam Ellison 4, Carl Johnson 13, Steve Meehan 8, Greg Robbins 12.

P: Lavoy Allen 9, Mike Aviles 11, Kevin Gallagher 8, Jesse Krasna 3, Dalton Pepper 10, Derrick Wright 7.