STATE COLLEGE -- Chester mayor John Linder will be the first to tell you he hasn't seen each of Chester High's boys basketball games this season.

"The last one I saw was the Norristown game (in the second round of the PIAA tournament)," Linder told me the other day. "But basketball is in our DNA. ... I don't have to see them every game to know how well they play and how well they're doing."

A 1965 graduate of Chester High, Linder made the trek with members of Chester city council to attend Saturday night's PIAA Class AAAA championship game against Lower Merion, when the nationally ranked Clippers will go for an undefeated season and their second consecutive state title.

When I asked Linder for a game prediction, he was initially reticent ... but then offered up this:

“For the balance, this is one of the best teams I've ever seen," Linder said. "You've got Rondae Jefferson. You've got the legacy with the Robinson boys (Darius, a junior, and Kareem, a senior). And the rest, I don't think there's any selfishness. They can get carried away, but they can reel it in. I don't think they're going to run away against Lower Merion. They'll win by five or six and get the game into the 70s. That's my prediction."

My prediction (a 71-62 win for Chester) appeared in Saturday's Daily Times, in addition to a full preview of the game. Hopefully you picked up a copy before checking it out on PCN tonight, or making the trip to Happy Valley.

Wednesday night at Reading High's Geigle Complex, Chester defeated Central Dauphin, 67-48, to earn to the program's 17th state title-game appearance.

The Clippers will face Lower Merion Saturday at 8 p.m. in the PIAA Class AAAA championship at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

Here's the Daily Times' coverage of Chester's semifinal win:


Chester's Rondae Jefferson dribbles through traffic.


Chester's Diamonte Reason rejects a shot on a third-quarter fastbreak.


Chester's Darius Robinson tries to snag a steal.


Jefferson puts up a shot.

GAME STORY: Confident Chester one win away from repeat (Vito)
COLUMN: Familiar foe is all that stands in Chester's way (Jack McCaffery)
SIDEBAR: Chester's weakness will be on the line (Anthony SanFilippo)
NEXT UP: Lower Merion rolls past Erie Cathedral Prep and into final
Missed our in-game live chat? Click here for the full recap.

A by-the-numbers breakdown of Friday night's District One Class AAAA championship game, between two of the state's most-storied programs -- Chester and Lower Merion:

	Chester	Lower Merion
2011 Records	26-0	25-2
Current Win Streak	52	19
District Titles	20	15
Last District title	2011	1996
PIAA titles	7	6
PIAA Final Fours	25	12

ALSO: Pick up Friday's Daily Times for a preview to get you ready for the big game, which tips off at Villanova at 9 p.m. And one more thing... Tickets to the game are available for purchase tonight from 3-7 p.m. and Friday from 1-3 p.m. at Chester High's athletic office.

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)

The crown belongs to Lower Merion.

The Aces (21-2, 17-0) ran the table in the Central League, and topped Upper Darby (13-11, 13-5) for the third time this season -- including Saturday's 71-31 victory at Penncrest High School -- to lock up the Central League championship.

Upper Darby, which had been the champion, went unbeaten in league play a year ago.

The Royals were done in by paltry scoring in the middle quarters, being outscored by the Aces, 40-6, between the second and third quarters. The game looked manageable after the first eight minutes, with Upper Darby trailing Lower Merion, 17-11.

Kuity Slanger and Beni Toure led the Royals with nine points apiece.

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)

Welcome to Schwartz Gymnasium at Widener University, the site of Monday's installment of the Jameer Nelson Classic.

I'll be on hand for a couple of the games. Stay close to Gettin' Schooled for odds and ends on each of them and check back regularly for results.

NESHAMINY 63, LOWER MERION 58: Without leading scorer Alon Seltzer, the Aces did everything they could do to stay competitive, before suffering their first loss. Lower Merion, on first glance, has a really well-balanced team. But the Redskins' Ryan Arcidiacano is better. The sophomore guard had a game-best 21 points and could be on his way to reaching 1,000 points before his junior year. Seltzer has been out since dislocating his knee cap in a game against Upper Darby.

ST. JOSEPH'S PREP 62, MARPLE NEWTOWN 42: Defending the 3 isn't a recommendation. In this game, it was. The Hawks made 2 of 19 3-point attempts before giving way to their bench. Senior Joe Nardi knocked down seven of them on his way to 23 points. For Marple Ryan Hanley and Soutiri Sapnas had 15 and 11 points, respectively. Check out Tuesday's Daily Times for a full report.

ALSO ON THE SCENE: Archbishop Carroll All-Delco D.J. Irving, wearing a red Boston University hat ... Penncrest senior guard Rodney Duncan ... Ridley coach Keith Heinerichs, doing some advanced scouting, as were dozens of other District One coaches ... Widener guard Chris White. A member of Penn Wood's state-title team a year ago, White was wearing his letter jacket - and getting hassled by Widener athletic personnel for doing so. "Don't you have any Widener gear?" one asked.