Chambersburg has gotten into a challenging trend in the basketball playoffs, sort of like having a bad streak in poker — its opponents always seem to have an ace in the hole.

First it was Reading in the District 3 Class 6A semifinals. Red Knights star Wesley Butler came in averaging 21.9 points per game and scored 19 in a 36-29 win.

Then came Wilson in the game for third place. Stevie Mitchell was putting up 20.9 points per game and hit the Trojans for 23 in a 53-51 overtime win.

Now, in the first round of the PIAA State Tournament, Chambersburg will see one of the best players in the state when it takes on Butler and its heavily-recruited junior Ethan Morton. The game is Saturday at Canon-McMillan H.S. in Canonsburg at 5 p.m.

Butler is 20-5 and the Golden Tornado fell 62-57 to Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL (District 7) championship game.

“Reading ran their offense through Butler, and Mitchell set up everything for Wilson,” Trojan coach Shawn Shreffler said. “That’s how Morton is, too. He’s really good in the open floor and in transition.

“It’s kind of like Magic Johnson, how he controls the play and controls the ball and works to get his teammates the ball.”

Shreffler wasn’t saying Morton is as good as Magic, but he’s got some good things going on. Morton is 6-foot-6 and plays point guard. He’s an excellent free throw shooter. He’s averaging 28 points per game, including 40 in a District 7 semifinal and a school record 48 earlier in the season.

And he’s being recruited by schools such as Pitt, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Stanford and Marquette.

“As well as you can, you have to minimize his good looks,” Shreffler said. “But they have a lot of really good shooters, so you have to take away their looks, too. Morton does a nice job of finding an open man if you take away what he wants to do.”

Mt. Lebanon tried to limit Morton’s touches by playing a full-court press, but he still put up 21 points and had 14 rebounds.

Chambersburg (20-7) has lost three of its last four games, but defense has not been the culprit.

In five playoff games, the Trojans have allowed only 46.5 points per game. But they have scored only 45.2.

Shreffler said, “I would hope our defense presents some challenges for them. We’ve been really good most of the time and I hope it comes through again. We just have to find enough offense.”

In the playoffs, Ethan Shreffler is the only player averaging in double figures, scoring 12.8 per game, including a career-high 25-point outburst against Wilson.

But the scoring averages from the other starters have fallen off — Tyler Collier (8.8 playoff ppg), Terell Williams (6.8), Ty Holsopple (5.8) and Seth Brouse (4.4).

Shawn Shreffler said, “I think we’d like to play with a little more pace. Seth has the ability to control the tempo, either by speeding it up or slowing it down, as long as we make good decisions.”

Rebounding has been a strength all season long for the Trojans, but Wilson was able to come up with plenty of second chances. That can’t happen Saturday.

“We are a really good rebounding team,” Shreffler said, “at both ends of the court. And we’ll have to be Saturday so we limit Morton’s opportunities in transition, and so we can create more opportunities for ourselves.”

NOTES: For an audio broadcast of the game by a Butler radio station , go to MidPennBroadcasting.com or TheSportsPage.blog … The game was moved from 4:30 to 5 p.m. to allow more time for SAT testing … In the D-7 final, Butler’s Devin Carney (6-0 guard) scored 13 points, Luke Patten (6-4 guard) tallied 12 and Mattix Clement (6-0 guard) had 7 … The Golden Tornado hit 7 of 21 3-pointers in that game … The only seniors in Butler’s rotation are Isaiah Scribner (6-2 center) and Colby Anderson (6-4 forward).