TITLE CHASE: Princeton Day School boys’ basketball player Chase Lewis dribbles up the court in recent action. Recovering from a knee injury suffered in early December, senior guard Lewis recently passed the 1,000-point mark in his PDS career. Last Sunday, he tallied 15 points to help the third-seeded Panthers defeat sixth-seeded Newark Academy 64-48 in the opening round of the state Prep B tournament. PDS, now 15-7, will play at second-seeded Morristown-Beard in the Prep B semis on February 12. In addition, PDS will play at Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) in a regular season contest on February 9. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As Chase Lewis lay writhing on the floor after driving to the basket in the home opener for the Princeton Day School boys’ hoops team in early December, he feared he might not play again for the Panthers.

Shrieking in pain as a trainer attended to him, the senior guard knew he had a serious leg injury.

“My knee cap was out of place,” recalled Lewis. “The fact that my season could have been over was pretty scary.”

Lewis underwent three weeks of rehabilitation and returned to action in January. Once back on the court, he was initially a bit scared to go full throttle.

“As I was coming back, it was more of a psychological thing in my mind,” said Lewis. “I was afraid to jump on my knee or do anything that could potentially hurt my knee.”

Getting up to speed, Lewis reached a special as he hit the 1,000-point mark in his career in a 57-38 win over Hopewell Valley on January 25.

“It was pretty exciting; I never thought I would score a thousand points,” said Lewis, who scored 12 points in the victory.

“Going into sophomore year, coach Paris (McLean) was like you have got to carry the torch and your name is going to be on the board.”

Last week, Lewis helped PDS pull out an exciting win over rival Pennington as the Panthers prevailed 69-62 in overtime.

“We were in pretty good shape in the first half; what really hurt us was rushing our offense,” said Lewis.

“We just kept rushing our offense in the fourth quarter. We started picking it up but then they tied it in the fourth quarter.”

The trio of Lewis, senior forward John McArthur, and sophomore guard David Coit continued their three-headed monster act in the win over the Red Raiders with Lewis scoring 13 points, McArthur chipping in 17, and Coit leading the way with 21.

“When we are all playing well, it is scary out there because nobody can really stop us,” said Lewis.

“You have got to guard three people instead of one. It opens up things a lot for all of us, they don’t know who to guard. Like today against Pennington, David was hot in the first quarter so then they started double teaming him and it left John and me open.”

As a senior captain, Lewis has focused on promoting team unity. “I am just trying to bring everybody together, make sure we stay united, and keep the chemistry high,” said Lewis.

“Last year we were rebuilding, that was like the first year with all the players. I feel like we jelled this year.”

Lewis is hoping that PDS can use that chemistry to fuel a run to a second straight state Prep B title. On Sunday, Lewis tallied 15 points to help the third-seeded Panthers defeat sixth-seeded Newark Academy 64-48 in the opening round of the Prep B tourney.

“Since we won Preps last year, people are coming after the title so we just have to play hard,” said Lewis, who will look to keep Panthers, now 15-7, on a title track as they play at second-seeded Morristown-Beard in the Prep semis on February 12.

No matter what happens in the postseason, Lewis is thrilled to be playing after that scary night in early December.

“That really made me realize I can’t take basketball for granted, any day could be my last day,” said Lewis.