CHAMBERSBURG — Early in the second quarter, Wilson took an 18-9 lead over Chambersburg on a bucket by Cornell Akings and the Bulldogs looked as good as advertised (6-1 with a win over Reading and ranked No. 2 in District 3).

Eli McDonald

But from that point on, Wilson managed only 5 field goals and 19 points against a stifling Trojan defense. Chambersburg’s offense caught fire and the result was a 50-37 non-league victory Monday afternoon in CASHS Field House.

The Trojans (6-1) played without point guard Stanley Lozius (illness), but Colton Cornwell took over his duties, while Eli McDonald got a start and was a big factor in the game with 7 points and numerous rebounds.

“In the summer, we played without Stanley because he was doing football stuff, so we knew how to adapt to that,” McDonald said. “We knew (Wilson) was good and they’ve played some really good teams, but we were confident.”

Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said, “This summer we played without Stanley, and J.J. (Kelly) missed some of that, too. So when we lost J.J. in overtime (at Cumberland Valley) and when we didn’t have Stanley today, we had moments before that we could draw confidence from.”

It didn’t show up at first. The Bulldogs’ man-to-man defense was not letting the Trojans get into their offense, and they made only 4 of their first 16 shots.

But then Chambersburg’s defense began to tighten up, which led to more offense. And the rebounding at both ends was excellent, which did not allow Wilson many chances to put a fast break in play.

McDonald said, “We watched film and saw that they really crash the boards, so we had to do a good job of boxing out. On defense, we did more stunting and relied on guys helping out.”

Trailing 18-9, the comeback began with Kelly making a three-point play for his first points. Cornwell’s three and a Kelly steal made it 20-19, then a slick pass from Cornwell to Landon Buhrman for a layup in the final seconds gave Chambersburg a one-point lead at the half.

The third quarter began badly for the Bulldogs, with Cornwell making two technical free throws, apparently for something said by Wilson at halftime to the officials. Then Kelly followed in his own miss, Cornwell knocked down a 3-pointer, Josh Rudy took a feed from Kelly for a bucket and Kelly scored on a baseline drive and a fast break to raise the score to 34-23.

The Bulldogs never got closer than 9 points again.

Shreffler said, “They were as good positionally on defense as I’ve seen, and very strong. But after the first quarter, we got better at making plays through contact in the paint.”

Every starter played a big role (with Shreffler’s comments):

— Kelly scored 17 points – he was relentless going to the hoop. “And J.J. makes us so much better on defense with a lot of little things he does.”

— Buhrman and Rudy defended Wilson’s top scorer, Madyx Gruber (12 points). “He’s averaging about 18. Buhrman did a great job on him and then Rudy took him, too.”

— Cornwell had few turnovers at the point and scored 10. “Colton did well running offense and against their press.”

— McDonald starting. “Eli had a fantastic game. He came in and did his job extremely well.”

NOTES: Chambersburg plays Saturday at 3:45 in the Jameer Nelson Classic showcase at Widener University against Friends Central, a private school from Philly … The game will not be live streamed on MidPennBroadcasting.com … The Trojans were 3-for-12 on 3-point shots.

Chambersburg 50, Wilson 37
WILSON
Madyx Gruber 5 1-1 12, Jon Etim 0 0-0 0, Tommy McFadden 0 2-2 2, Cornell Akings 4 0-0 10, Luke Levan 2 1-2 5, Michael Glover 0 1-2 1, Peter Kelfalla 1 0-3 2, Cam Zullinger 1 0-0 3, Christo Hunsicker 0 0-0 0, Joe Houck 0 0-0 0, Henry Michel 1 0-2 2. Totals 14 5-10 37.
CHAMBERSBURG
Aedan Walker 0 0-0 0, Josh Rudy 3 0-0 6, Auden Silvestre 1 0-0 2, Eli McDonald 3 0-0 7, Ben Etter 0 0-0 0, Colton Cornwell 3 2-2 10, J.J. Kelly 8 1-3 17, Cooper Stockslager 0 0-0 0, Landon Buhrman 3 0-0 6, Tyrell Hawkins 0 2-2 2.
Wilson                           11       9       7      10     —     37
Chambersburg              7     14     15     14     —     50
3-point shots — Wil 4 (Akings 2, Gruber, Zullinger); Chbg 3 (Cornwell 2, McDonald). Shooting — Wil 14-39 (35.9%); Chbg 21-51 (41.2%). Turnovers — Wil 15; Chbg 10.