JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — For the fourth straight year, the Chambersburg boys basketball team reached the second round of the PIAA Class 6A state playoffs — matching the deepest run in program history.
And once again, that’s where the Trojans’ season came to an end as they fell 54-38 to Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Wednesday night at Pitt-Johnstown.
“It’s tough,” said Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler, whose team was making its fifth straight appearance in the state playoffs. “Obviously, guys wanted to win. They’re a very competitive group. But as you reflect on what the senior group has accomplished and what our program has accomplished over the last five years, it’s a nice run.”
Enzo Khalil and Jack Stoessel each scored 13 points to lead Pittsburgh Central Catholic (24-3), which controlled the game defensively.
“Their defense was extremely solid,” Shreffler said. “They’re very strong, physical, the way they play. They were very well connected offensively as well — just a really, really solid basketball team. You have to beat them; they’re not going to beat themselves. There were moments in the game where we weren’t at our best, and they really capitalized on it and used those moments to create separation.”
Grayson Kegerreis — who led the Trojans (20-8) to a first-round upset of Coatesville on Saturday — picked up where he left off. The senior guard started on fire, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to give Chambersburg an early 6-4 lead. Ten of his game-high 17 points came in the first quarter as the Trojans trailed just 14-12 after one.
However, the Vikings opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run to build a double-digit lead and maintained control the rest of the way. They led 33-25 at halftime and 44-32 at the end of the third period.
“They have nine seniors on their team, and you can just tell they’ve played together a long time,” Shreffler said. “You can tell they’ve been in the weight room for a long period of time. There’s just a lot of things they do because of that connectedness — being together that long. You can see it when you play against it.”
Senior guard Colton Cornwell scored nine points for Chambersburg, while sophomore forward Malachi Duhaney added six points. Kegerreis tallied only three points after halftime.
“(Kegerreis) really helped get us out to a great start,” Shreffler said. “He was shooting the ball really, really well. But then he had to do a lot. They did a really nice job defensively on Colton, which forced Grayson to handle the basketball more. So now that he was handling the ball, he didn’t have the opportunity to score like he was earlier in the game.
“We also had him at the top for 1-3-1, and he’s extremely active up there, but that took a lot of wear and tear on him as well. It would have been nice to be able to have his scoring throughout the game. But circumstances just didn’t allow that to happen.”
