Chester has the upper hand in preparation for Penn Wood

Southeastern Pennsylvania boys basketball Top 10
Records as of Jan. 3, 2011
1. Chester (Pa.) (6-1)
2. Friends' Central (Wynnewoode) (7-1)
3. Academy of the New Church (Bryn Athyn) (7-2)
4. Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia) (7-2)
5. Neshaminy (Langhorne) (6-0)
6. Council Rock North (Newtown) (6-1)
7. Penn Wood (Lansdowne) (2-4)
8. Archbishop Carroll (Radnor) (5-2)
9. Sts. Neumann & Goretti (Philadelphia) (3-2)
10. La Salle College (Wyndmoor) (7-1)

One of the biggest games in southeastern Pennsylvania will be taking place Thursday night, when two Philadelphia-area powerhouses from the same league meet for the first time this season.

The one interesting twist is when two-time state finalist Penn Wood visits traditional rival Chester at 7 p.m., it may not be Penn Wood that holds the upper hand.

In fact, six games into this new season, the Patriots, nationally ranked at the start the year, have stumbled a few times. They have opened with a very disappointing 2-4 overall record after a pretty poor display against New York City's Rice, dropping a 69-54 decision on Sunday at the fabled Palestra.



It wasn't so much that the Pats lost to Rice — it's how they lost. Penn Wood was indecisive during large segments of the game, added to the fact that the Pats made a myriad of mental mistakes and seemed to lose focus.

If not for the sterling play of West Virginia-bound Aaron Brown, who popped in a team-high 31 points, things could have gotten really ugly for Penn Wood.

But right now, as of the first week of January, the best team in District 1 Class AAAA is not Penn Wood and could very well be the Pats' Del-Val League rival Chester, which has started this season 6-1 and won its first five games.

The Clippers are buoyed by a balanced attack led by Erikk Wright and supported by Lamon Church, Dequann Walker, Maurice Nelson, Richard Grandbury and Rondae Jefferson.

Six games into this season, the Pats have Aaron Brown, Aaron Brown, Aaron Brown and some more Aaron Brown. He is one of MaxPreps' Top 100 players to watch in the 2011 class but hasn't received much help from anyone else, and the team that entered 2011 with such high aspirations and expectations now faces an interesting character test on Thursday against Chester.

"I don't like the way we're playing right now, and what's so frustrating is that I know we have the talent and the team to play better. Much, much better than the way we're playing right now," said Pats' coach Clyde Jones, who had a rather animated talk with his team for close to an hour after the Rice loss.

"We've been undisciplined and I'm surprised by our inability to handle pressure," Jones continued. "I'm mad because I know how talented we are, the talent is here, but collectively at the core, we're lacking confidence and discipline. We as a coaching staff go over things during practice, we tell them what to do, and what really bothers me is that we have more confidence in these kids and this team than our kids are showing in themselves.



"We're looking for workers, guys that play with an extreme confidence, and can play against anyone, in any venue. We get here to the Palestra, against a team like Rice, and everything I know we're capable of doing falls apart. Our kids have shown they're extremely confident when they're comfortable. The first sign of being uncomfortable and we have problems. Look, we can beat anyone if we play the right way. But if we play like we did against Rice, we couldn't come close to anyone."{PAGEBREAK}Jones has put together one of the best programs in not only basketball hotbed Southeastern Pennsylvania, but across the state — building a power at both Penn Wood and at tiny Harriton before that. He's a 12-month-a-year coach, who gives a 12-month-a-year commitment to winning and cultivating his players.

Jones is also not one to panic easily, either.

"We'll be OK, it's still January and we're just six games into it, but I want to see some changes where we can play another 20 or 25 games down the line," Jones said. "We thought we had some things corrected this week. We're going to have to think again. We just have some guys who need to work on their own belief systems. We believe we have a good basketball team. The kids in this locker room have to believe it — and they have to believe in themselves."

The truth machine is Chester. The Clippers are coming off a subpar season by Chester standards and have loaded up with pretty much the same cast that they had last year, with the big addition being Church, a Chester resident who transferred back to his neighborhood school after playing at Malvern Prep.

Wright paid the brunt of playing on those young Clipper teams the last two years, especially when it came against Penn Wood, the 2008 PIAA Class AAAA state champions. Now it's time for some payback.

"We have a nice team that everyone seemed to look past before the year," said Wright, the Clippers' leading scorer who's been a matchup problem for opposing teams. "We know we're a good team. I think it's time we show everyone else how good we are."



Right now, the team to beat may not be Penn Wood. The team to beat in District 1 Class AAAA could very be the team Penn Wood is playing Thursday night.

Joseph Santoliquito can be reached at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.