The gift and the warning that Clyde Jones gave to Tyree Johnson with 5:15 left in a Delaware County high school basketball masterpiece Tuesday were the same ones he gave him as the gym at Penn Wood Middle School was being filled with fans and passion.

They were the very ones he gave him before the season.

They were the same ones he will give him in the postseason.

They are the same ones the head coach at Penn Wood High will give his junior point guard this year and next, and whenever a game is important, tight and winnable.

Wrapped in a metaphor, the gift is his trust. The warning? That’s a reference to what is developing as a high-performance machine.

“He always says to me, ‘You have the keys to the car,’” Johnson said. “Then he says, ‘Don’t wreck my Bentley.’”

Johnson is the Patriots’ 5-9 leader, three-point threat, defensive presence, sneaky rebounder and precision passer. And his contributions to the Patriots’ 53-52 victory over Chester included not only 26 points, three three-pointers, six rebounds and six assists, but the bottomless attitude ever required to defeat any Clippers’ team.

Before 1,000 dropped jaws — and one dropped Chester opportunity to take control of the Del Val League — Johnson provided an all-around point guard performance that would fit snugly on any such list of single-game Delco efforts.

“I love a point guard who can, when it is called for, get his own shot,” Jones said in the locker room, as a celebration continued to rage outside on the court, not to mention the surrounding Darby streets. “I still believe he becomes more dynamic as he uses his gifts to make other people better. He is learning how to do that. He made some really big shots tonight, even if they weren’t always the shots we wanted. But his confidence to take them and his ability are second to none.”

Johnson demonstrated early that Chester’s road to another state championship would begin in Delaware County traffic, as he scored eight points in the first quarter and 18 before halftime. He scored all but four of Penn Wood’s first-half field goals —- and assisted on two of the others.

But it was with 1:34 left in the third quarter that Jones’ trust-meter would be thrust to dangerous levels. That’s when Johnson drew his fourth foul, with the Patriots trailing, 36-34, and lugging around 20 years of knowledge that the Clippers were not going to agree to an orderly exit in such a statement game.

Jones asked for his Bentley keys back, sitting Johnson down.

Just the same, he kept jingling them.

“At that point, I knew it would depend on how we were playing offensively, when I would bring him back,” Jones said. “Because I actually knew we would be able to cover for him defensively. Offensively, though, I was really worried. So we were able to steal a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, and I got him back in with right around five minutes to go.”

There was 5:15 showing when Johnson returned, and the Patriots were trailing, 44-38 — to the delight, naturally, of the not-so-subtle Clippers fans.

“I was itching to get back in — yes, yes I was,” Johnson said. “But I was being patient and I could trust my team. I knew I was going to get back in. I knew there was plenty of time — plenty of time. We are a good team. They are a good team, too. But we knew anything could happen.”

Anything could. This did: Johnson fed Aaron Brown, who was fouled and made one of two free throws; then he located Chris White for a three-pointer; then, with 33.2 seconds left, he drew a foul and drained both sides of a one-and-one for a 50-49 Penn Wood lead; then he corralled a defensive rebound; then he made another free throw.

Basically, he took Jones’ car for a joy ride.

“It’s a two-way street,” Jones said. “I am trying to empower him because I believe he is a special talent. But at the same time, often times when you empower kids that you believe have special talent, they believe they can do and should do everything.

“So as he learns how to pick his spots and his moments and use the gifts he has around him — like Thomas White, Duane Johnson, Aaron Brown and Shawn Oakman — the game is going to become a lot easier for him, and we will have these fantastic nights from him. I’d like to see him become more consistent.”

Johnson is a junior and is drawing recruiting interest from mid-majors to Marquette. Continued Penn Wood success would increase his visibility — and he is visible just about every possession, making multiple play calls and then cutting into the lane, where he is equally likely to deliver a line-drive pass for a layup as he is to score.

Not that one victory on one January night decides everything, for — just thinking out loud here — Chester has a chance to be a handful in March. But the Patriots have multiple Division I prospects and legitimate size. And like so many other classic Delaware County teams, Penn Wood’s success begins at the point.

“Tyree is 5-9, but his heart is 6-7,” Jones said. “He has really big hands and he is really strong and quick. He gets deflections and steals in the lane. His size is not going to be an issue because his quickness, his toughness and his heart compensate for a lot of that stuff.”

Just consider his coach’s trust as one more gift on that list.

To contact Jack McCaffery, e-mail sports@delcotimes.com