Chester High School basketball on COVID-19 pause, but has real shot at SC playoffs
The Chester Cyclones have seen their promising basketball season put on hold for the moment due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Chester had a record of 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the region when they were required to reschedule last Friday night’s contest against Lower Richland. It marked the second interruption of the season. The Cyclones will not be able to play again until at least February 2.
Chester head coach Sebastian Hopkins is taking it all in stride. He is looking forward to when his team can return to action and work to finish as one of the top two teams in the region and advance to the postseason, he said.
“It is what it is,” said the veteran head coach. “I just hope that this layoff does not hurt our momentum, because we were playing some very good basketball. I hope it does not put us back to square one.”
The Cyclones bolted out of the door with three victories in their first four games this year. After having two games with Keenan rescheduled until later in the year, they continued their excellent play as they opened region play with a pair of wins over the Fairfield Central Griffins: They won the first of the two games 42-41, but later in the week they routed the Griffins, 61-44. The two victories put them on top in the region.
Last Tuesday, they lost to the Lower Richland Diamond Hornets in the first of two games. And when last Friday rolled around, as aforementioned, they were forced to reschedule their second meeting because of COVID-19 issues.
Who leads Chester?
The Cyclones are a relatively young team. Of the 11 players on the team, only four are seniors. They were beginning to jell after having a long wait to get all of the players on the floor for practice.
“We could not have spring workouts, summer camp, or fall workouts as usual because of the virus,” added Hopkins. “We had only five players at practice for a while, until we got the football players when their season was over.”
Chester has been led offensively by senior Qua Williams. He is averaging almost 20 points per outing. He also leads the Cyclones in assists with just more than six per game: He gets help on the offensive end of the floor from senior Dejuan Clifton, who averages just more than 14 points per contest. The third big offensive threat comes from sophomore Shydem McCullough, who scores just more than seven points per game.
The Cyclones play a variety of defenses: They can employ the half court pressure defense or use a straight zone. They challenge every shot and work hard under the boards for a rebound to start the fast break.
“We like to mix it up as much as we can,” he added. “The transition game is a big part of our offense. We use our team speed for that, and we have shown that we can score in the set up offense.”
Junior Zan Dunham, who played quarterback and safety on the football team and already has a few college offers from Power Five football programs, and Clifton are the top rebounders thus far for the Cyclones. Both are pulling down just more than six stray shots per game.
What’s ahead next month?
Come Feb. 2, the Cyclones will be in a chase that includes Keenan and Mid-Carolina in addition to Lower Richland and Fairfield Central. In addition to the second game against Lower Richland, the Cyclones must make up two games with Keenan and take on Mid-Carolina twice.
“This is the toughest region in the state in 3A,” added Hopkins. “If you do not bring your ‘A’ game every night you are not going to win. This region is very balanced from top to bottom.”
The Cyclones know what they have left on the schedule, but they do not know when they will play or how many games they have to play in one week to catch up. This layoff is affecting other teams in the region as well — to the point where pretty much the entire Region 3-4A’s schedule is being restructured.
“We had come a long way since the first game of the year, and the players saw that,” he added. “We need to stay focused and continue to work as hard as we did before we were forced to suspend play.”