CARLISLE — When the Chambersburg boys basketball team is playing near its potential, it can be a little frightening.

Just ask Carlisle.

Ben Etter

The Thundering Herd hosted the Trojans in a Mid Penn Commonwealth game at Gene Evans gym on Friday night and — although a close game was expected — got to witness a mercy-rule defeat at the hands of Chambersburg, 73-46.

The lead soared to 35 points at the end of the third period (64-29), so the entire fourth period had a running clock.

“I was definitely not expecting this,” said Trojan guard Ben Etter, who popped in a career-high 10 points. “We did well on defense, especially Josh (Rudy) on No. 3 (Parker Smith). And that got us going at the offensive end.”

Similar to  17-2 opening salvo at CD East on Tuesday, Chambersburg (10-2, 6-1 MPC) scored the first 12 points of the game against Carlisle (8-4, 4-3 MPC). The Herd got it back to 12-7, but the Trojans put together a 23-3 run to pretty much put the game away by late in the second period, and led 42-17 by halftime.

Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said, “I did not see this coming. They are a very good basketball team and Parker is an excellent player. And this is a tough place to play — they have fans that know basketball and it can get loud. It’s great atmosphere here.

“But early on, our defensive effort was really good, making it difficult for them to score. And we were patient on offense and got some really shots.”

The Trojans were 4-for-7 on 3-pointers in the first period and 3-for-4 in the second, with Colton Cornwell sinking 3 of them, Etter 2 and Eli McDonald and J.J. Kelly one each.

Etter said, “On my first one, the ball kind of got stuck, and they got it to me in the corner. I didn’t really set up right, but I was hoping for maybe a rebound … but I chucked it up and it went in. I felt better on the next one.”

Etter also scored the first two baskets of the second half, just in case Carlisle thought about a comeback.

Shreffler said, “Ben puts in a lot of time into his skill work. It was good to see his first one go in, and he looked a lot more confident on the next one.”

Kelly had 15 of his 22 points in he middle two quarters, killing the Carlisle D with a series of strong drives, and also had a handful of assists. He also controlled the boards, which allowed the Trojans to get into transition.

And he got plenty of help. Chambersburg had 6 players score in the first period, and Cornwell (13), Landon Buhrman (10) and Etter joined him in double figures, while McDonald added 9.

The Herd’s Smith, who averages 25.6 points per game, ended up with 20. But he had only five in the first half when the game was decided.

“Rudy and Buhrman did a really nice job on Smith — he really had to work for his shots,” Shreffler said.

Etter said, “I thought we played tough on defense. We played in layers and we studied the plays they used, so we were reading it well.”

Chambersburg 73, Carlisle 46
CHAMBERSBURG
Aedan Walker 0 0-0 0, Josh Rudy 1 2-2 4, Ayden Silvestre 1 0-0 2, Eli McDonald 4 0-0 9, Ben Etter 4 0-0 10, Colton Cornwell 4 2-3 13, J.J. Kelly 9 3-4 22, Cooper Stockslager 0 0-0 0, Landon Buhrman 4 2-2 10, Tyrell Hawkins 1 1-1 3. Totals 28 10-12 73.
CARLISLE
Parker Smith 8 3-6 20, Tyler Royal 2 0-0 4, Masyn McMeekin 0 0-0 0, Lucas Ream 1 2-8 4, Luke Fischer 2 0-0 6, Cayson Johnson 1 0-0 2, J.D.Knight 2 4-6 8, Jayden Debraux 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 8-20 46.
Chambersburg            20     22     22     9     —    76
Carlisle                         10       7     16    13    —     46
3-point shots — Chbg 7 (Cornwell 3, Etter 2, McDonald, Kelly); Car 4 (Fischer 2, Smith 2). Shooting — Chbg 28-45 (62.2%); Car 16-35 (45%). Turnovers — Chbg 12; Car 14.