J.J. Kelly, bottom front, relaxes with friends and family after becoming Chambersburg’s all-time leading basketball scorer on Tuesday night (photo by Ed Gotwals).

CHAMBERSBURG — J.J. Kelly now stands alone.

Chambersburg’s senior marvel broke not one, but two school records Tuesday evening at CASHS Field House in a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division win over Harrisburg and is now the leading scorer in the history of the Trojan basketball annals.

J.J. Kelly

Kelly entered last night’s game with 1,391 points, which was three behind Eric Bender for the school’s boys leading scorer and 20 behind Bender’s sister Emily (1,411) for overall top scorer. Kelly ended up with 26 points and is now at the top of both lists.

“I wanted to just let it happen,” Kelly said, “but I really did want to break them at our first home game and get it over with. I didn’t want to overdo it, but I am very grateful that I have the school record for scoring. And it really meant a lot that I did it in a win.”

Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said, “It was nice for J.J. to break that record early in the season. When you have something like that on the precipice, that can consume you and your teammates, wanting to achieve that goal. And your opponent doesn’t want it to happen in their game.

“I’m proud of how J.J. stayed the course and didn’t try to do too much. It wasn’t easy, but he continued to just grind away.”

Kelly opened the game by making one of two technical foul shots thanks to a violation by Harrisburg (0-2, 0-1 MPC) in the scorebook. Then midway through the first period, he took a pass from Landon Buhrman and dropped in a 3-pointer from the right corner to surpass Eric Bender.

With 4:58 left in the fourth period, with the Trojans (3-0, 1-0 MPC) ahead only 41-39, Kelly pumped in another three from the top of the key, assisted by Josh Rudy, to tie Emily Bender.

Moments later, he skied above the rim on an alley-oop from Colton Cornwell. He was slightly out of position for a dunk, yet he was able to feather in a layup to break his second record. Kelly ended the night with 1,417 points and has nearly 20 more games to add on to that total.

The game itself was a tense affair through three quarters. A 7-0 run in the first period put Chambersburg ahead, but with Buhrman sitting down with two very quick fouls, the offense was not in synch against a tough, physical man-to-man defense by Harrisburg.

“I don’t think we handled the physical play well in the first quarter,” Shreffler said. “We started to get on more even footing in the second and played tougher. A tense game like this one is good for us because that’s how it’ll be in the league.

I thought Harrisburg played with great intensity and was relentless. We had to match that, because every basket was earned.”

After Kelly’s history-making buckets, the Cougars’ Quincy Brannon made a basket to bring his team within 46-41. But by time Harrisburg scored again, the Trojans had run off 13 straight points. In that stretch, the Cougars were 0-for-6 at the foul line, while Chambersburg hit 7 of 8 free throws.

Cornwell (9), Rudy (8), Buhrman (7) and Eli McDonald (6) supported Kelly in scoring. For Harrisburg, freshman Jaylon Lewis knocked down 22 points — he scored 17 of the Cougars’ 23 points in the second and third quarters — but he was held scoreless in the fourth.

Kelly said, “I know I’ve been blessed with my ability, but I was excited that me and the guys could get the win. Harrisburg is always physical and they have their pride.”

NOTES: Chambersburg plays at Cumberland Valley on Thursday … Those are the two teams expected to battle for the Commonwealth title … The Trojans have now won 15 of the last 16 games vs. the Cougars.

Chambersburg 64, Harrisburg 47
HARRISBURG
KeJuan Sinkler 0 1-1 1, Elias Coke 1 0-0 2, Jaylon Lewis 7 4-8 22, Quincy Brannon 5 1-4 11, Mekhi Jackson 1 1-2 3, Trays Walker 0 1-2 1, Sinceer Whitehead 0 1-2 1, Ryan Strain 0 0-0 0, William Dickson 0 2-2 2, Solomon Stewart 0 0-0 0, Julian Bair 1 2-2 4, Khairell Middleton 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 13-25 47.
CHAMBERSBURG
Aedan Walker 0 0-0 0, Josh Rudy 3 2-2 8, Ayden Silvestre 1 1-2 3, Eli McDonald 0 6-7 6, Stanley Lozius 0 3-6 3, Ben Etter 0 0-0 0, Colton Cornwell 3 2-4 9, J.J. Kelly 7 10-12 26, Cooper Stockslager 0 0-0 0, Landon Buhrman 3 1-2 7, Tyrell Hawkins 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 25-35 64.
Harrisburg               14       6     17       9     —     47
Chambersburg        11     12     16     25     —     64
3-point shots — Harr 4 (Lewis 4); Chbg 3 (Kelly 3, Cornwell). Shooting — Harr 15-43 (34.8%); Chbg 18-38 (47.3%). Turnovers — Harr 19; Chbg 17.