Chambersburg’s J.J. Kelly (No. 12 in white jersey) signs autographs for the fans after the Trojans’ 52-38 win over Whitehall in a PIAA first-round game Saturday at CASHS Field House. Kelly, the Trojans’ all-time leading scorer, likely played his last home game (photo by Greg Hoover).

CHAMBERSBURG — Whitehall came into CASHS Field House on Saturday evening with a couple of problems to deal with.

But it turned out the excellent third quarter turned in by Chambersburg was an even bigger problem.

The Zephyrs could not overcome all three issues and succumbed to the Trojans 52-38 in a PIAA Class 6A first-round boys basketball game.

Chambersburg (20-6) will now take on perennial state contender Imhotep (24-5), the District 12 champion that beat Central Bucks East 62-46 in the first round, in a second round game on Wednesday, with site and time to be announced.

Whitehall, which finishes at 19-9, did not have their 6-7 center, AJ Hines, who was dropped from the team before their last playoff game for a school infraction. The Zephyrs also were late arriving to the game because of a flat tire on their bus.

But, even though the Trojans zipped out to an 8-0 lead, Whitehall hung in, trailing only 22-17 at halftime.

J.J. Kelly finishes a slam during Chambersburg’s 52-38 win over Whitehall on Saturday evening at CASHS Field House. Kelly had 20 points and four dunks in the victory (photo by Liam Kirkpatrick).

They played a box-and-one defense against J.J. Kelly that didn’t necessarily stop Kelly — he had 10 points in the first half — but did disrupt the Chambersburg offense. Other than Landon Buhrman, who also scored 10 in the first half.

“With other teams concentrating so much of J.J., he’s like my savior, because it frees up my game so much,” Buhrman said. “We ran the offense OK at first, but then they sagged a little. We made some adjustments that created some space for us.”

Whitehall did go on a 9-0 run to tie the game 14-14, with Sudge Hoderewski (17 points) doing most of the damage. But by halftime, the Trojans held a 22-17 lead, helped by back-to-back amazing dunks by Kelly.

Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said, “I thought we got stagnant on offense in the first half. We didn’t get into the gaps of their defense and we weren’t penetrating, so we weren’t making them move. But we did play good defense. We did a phenomenal job of contesting their 3-point shooters  and containing their dribble.”

Then came the third quarter. The Trojans outscored Whitehall 18-6, including an 18-2 run, to zoom to a 40-23 advantage and pretty much wrap up the win.

Eli McDonald started the big quarter with a layup and later had a putback and a layup. Buhrman and Kelly each scored 6 points in the run. Chambersburg made better passes on offense, and got out in transition by dominating the boards.

Kelly said, “In the second half, the other guys were looking for me when I was crashing (inside), and were setting some good screens off the ball. We didn’t know for sure about their big man until just before the game and that made it easier when we got it inside.”

“In the second half we turned it on on offense,” Shreffler said. “J.J., Landon and Eli ran the floor well and Colt (Colton Cornwell) and Stan (Stanley Lozius) did a great job of moving the ball. Eli got us a lot of early opportunities and put himself in the right spots, and Landon really asserted himself.”

Hoderewski opened the fourth with a 3-pointer for the Zephyrs, but Chambersburg then ran off 12 consecutive points, which included another set of back-to-back, crowd-pleasing dunks for Kelly. The lead was 52-26 at that point; then Whitehall scored the final 12 points of the game.

Kelly said, “It was a fun game. I like to play my game at the rim and I could in this game.”

Kelly, who almost certainly played his last home game, took the time afterwards to sign autographs and stand for photos.

Shreffler said, “That was really neat — we had a great crowd and they supported us well. And J.J. put on a show for them.”

NOTES: Kelly had 20 points, Buhrman 17, Cornwell 8 and McDonald 7 — they were the only scorers for Chambersburg … The Zephyrs were held to 37.5% shooting (15-40) … The Trojans made 8 of 12 shots in the 3rd quarter … Unofficially, Kelly is up to 1,943 points for his career.

Chambersburg 52, Whitehall 38
WHITEHALL
Tanner Dogmanits 0 0-0 0, Mason Roberts 2 1-2 7, Sudge Hoderewski 7 0-1 17, Talon Dogmanits 2 0-0 4, Cole Richards 0 0-0 0, Omari Ratliffe 1 0-0 2, Josh Roman 1 0-0 3, Joey Groller 0 0-0 0, Andrew Sodl 1 0-0 3, Cole Rozycki 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 1-3 38.
CHAMBERSBURG
Josh Rudy 0 0-0 0, Ayden Silvestre 0 0- 00, Eli McDonald 3 1-2 7, Stanley Lozius 0 0-0 0, Ben Etter 0 0-0 0, Colton Cornwell 3 0-0 8, J.J. Kelly 10 0-0 20, Cooper Stockslager 0 0-0 0, Landon Buhrman 7 3-4 17, Tyrell Hawkins 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-6 52.
Whitehall                     8     9       6     15     —     38
Chambersburg          14     8     18     12     —     52
3-point shots — WH 7 (Hoderewski 3, Roberts 2, Roman, Sodl); Chbg 2 (Cornwell 2. Shooting — WH 15-40 (37.5%); Chbg 23-45 (51%). Turnovers — WH 11; Chbg 9.45