COATESVILLE — Once again, Chambersburg has struck down a powerful District 1 opponent in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament.

The Trojans may not have played a perfect game, but it was close enough to put down Coatesville, the District 1 runner-up, on the Red Raiders’ home court, 57-49, in a game in which Chambersburg never trailed.

Grayson Kegerreis

“This was a great win for our guys and our program,” Trojan coach Shawn Shreffler said. “I thought we had an excellent week of preparation.

“Our coaching staff put together a really good game plan, our guys believed in it, then went out and executed agianst a great team in a great basketball environment.”

Chambersburg (20-7) will meet Pittsburgh Central Catholic (23-3) in the second round on Wednesday at a neutral site TBD. The Vikings won 48-34 over Allderdice in the first round.

Grayson Kegerreis opened the game with a 3-pointer for the Trojans, and he ended up hitting four longballs and totaled 19 points.

Meanwhile the Red Raiders’ star, Colton Hiller, a top-5 national recruit in the sophomore class, scored 24 points, but he was harried all over the court by a handful of defenders, and he ended up not making a three.

“Our matchups were challenged throughout the game because multiple players got into foul troule guarding Hiller,” Shreffler said. “However, each time someone different needed to step up, he inevitably did.”

Chambersburg befuddled Coatesville on defense early, holding the Red Raiders to just 6 points in the first quarter. By the time it was 15-9 early in the second period, Josh Rudy had picked up his third foul marking Hiller.

Malachi Duhaney

Rudy eventually fouled out early in the fourth and Colton Cornwell did, too, with more than two minutes left.

But the Trojan offense kept scoring enough to keep the lead, which grew as large as 11 points several times in the second period, including 27-16 at halftime after Seth Gilliam converted just before the buzzer on a pass from Cornwell.

Shreffler said, “Things didn’t always go as planned, but our guys fought and maintained their focus throughout. Quite a few guys stepped up in a variety of situations and performed their roles very well.”

Gilliam hit a three and had 5 points in the third as Chambersburg kept a 40-32 lead.

In the fourth, Coatesville’s press tightened up a litle bit and Hiller was pretty much the offense, scoring 11 of his team’s 17 points. A Hiller jumper brought the Red Raiders to within 47-45 with about 2:20 left, then Landon Buhrman and Hiller shared 2 free throws.

With 50 seconds left, Malachi Duhaney scored for the Trojans, then defended a shot by Hiller that missed and Buhrman rebounded. At the other end, Angelo Onomastico was fouled and made both with 39 seconds left for a 53-47 lead, and Chambersburg finished the game out.

Shreffler said two things made a big difference — the Trojans held their own on the boards against a taller team, with Cornwell (10) and Buhrman (8) leading the way. And although the tough Coatesville press caused 13 turnovers, that was made up for with 13 assists.

“I was really proud of our toughness, resiliency and focus,” Shreffler said. “We stayed together through both the ups and downs. We’ll take a day to enjoy this one, then start preparing for a really good Central Catholic team.

“We were also very thankful for the small, but loud, contingent of C-burg fans who made the two-hour plus trip to watch us play.”

Chambersburg 57, Coatesville 49
CHAMBERSBURG
Josh Rudy 0 1-2 1, Grayson Kegerreis 6 3-4 19, Jarrett Gipe 0 0-0 0, Angelo Onomastico 1 4-4 6, Colton Cornwell 2 2-2 6, Malachi Duhaney 8 0-0 10, Landon Buhrman 1 4-4 6, Seth Gilliam 3 2-2 9, Brennen Smith 0 0-0 0, Daryan Myers 0 0-0 0, Brady Truett 0 0-0 0. Totals
COATESVILLE
Christian Allegra 0 0-0 0, Jahmaad Williams 2 1-2 5, Larry Brown 2 0-0 4, Colton Hiller 8 8-11 24, Jonas Chester 0 0-0 0, Jahlil Thedford 3 1-3 8, Zeric Allen-Brown 2 0-1 2, Elijah Walton 0 2-2 2, Max Hillar 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 12-19 49.
Chambersburg        11     16     13     17     —     57
Coatesville                 6      10     16     17     —     49 
3-point shots — Chbg 5 (Kegerreis 4, Gilliam); Coat 1 (Thedford).