Friday's game is more than a meeting of the giants of District One. It's a meeting of the giants.

Perhaps the only other team in the district with as many capable and talented bigs as Chester is the team the top-seeded Clippers (26-0) will go against – second-seeded Lower Merion (25-2).

Chester boasts senior Tavaune Griffin (6-7), junior Rondae Jefferson (6-7), senior Zimir Geiger (6-6), junior Richard Granberry (6-6) and senior Erikk Wright (6-4). Meanwhile, Lower Merion has senior Yohanny Dalembert (6-7), junior B.J. Johnson (6-5, pictured above) and junior Darryl Reynolds (6-4, pictured below).

Here's what a few had to say about the pairing of the bigs...
Wright: “Playing against Tavaune and Richard in practice makes me stronger.”

Jefferson: “We've got solid, strong guys. Guys like Zimir, Richard and Tavaune are our strong guys. We've got little Erikk Wright, who's tremendous. We love him. There's nothing he doesn't do. We're just going to feed them. We're going to see what they do against their bigs.”

Griffin: “Our gameplan is to get the ball inside and work it inside-out. That's all there is to it.”

Let's see how it all plays out Friday.

(Photos courtesy AcesHoops.com)

Lower Merion (20-2) assembled the kind of season that makes outsiders salivate.

I had been hearing all year that the Aces were the best competition that Chester (20-0) could see for the District One and PIAA Class AAAA crowns.

Now that I've seen them, I'm convinced all that talk was legit ... because the Aces are legit. Lower Merion, which will play for the Central League championship Saturday night, has the total package: A trio of frontcourt players who will make most high-school forwards tremble and a capable point guard in Jaquan Johnson, who might actually be the Aces' only weakness in a meeting with Chester.

In Tuesday's win over Upper Darby, B.J. Johnson (6-5 junior) had 19 points and three rebounds, Darryl Reynolds (a 6-7 senior seen defending UD's Ralik Wise) totaled 10 points and 14 rebounds and Raheem Hall (6-2 junior) had 10 points. Yohanny Dalembert (6-7 senior) came off the bench for two points and four boards.

Not bad, huh?

“I’ve never had one 6-7 guy, so to have two is quite a luxury," said Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer. "We don’t lose much when we go to the bench, which is the sign of a good ball club."

As for hanging with Chester, though...

"I haven’t seen Chester, but I’m told they don’t have four guys like (Lower Merion)," said Upper Darby coach Bob Miller. "In all we’ve scouted, we have not seen a team with that much size. … We haven’t seen that much. To bring a 6-7 kid off the bench is good."

Added Downer: “Of course, every journey eventually would have to go through Chester. They’re just phenomenal, playing at a national level. We just take it one step at a time: win games, win the Central League, go to districts, be competitive, make states. That’s how we look at it."

(Times staff photo / ROBERT J. GURECKI)