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Steel-High 58, Chambersburg 50
Of note: A 21-4 second quarter helped Steel-High to a big lead, and then the Rollers made 16 of 22 foul shots in the fourth quarter to hold on ... Troy Love topped Steel-High with 19 points ... Gabe Carson-Rivera led Chambersburg with 12 points.
Records: The Trojans (9-7, 6-7 MPC) travel to Central Dauphin on Friday, 7:30 ... The Rollers are 11-6, 8-5 MPC.
By JOEL RINEER
Staff writer
Chambersburg was one quarter away from putting together a very solid performance against Steel-High on Tuesday night at CASHS Field House.
It seems to be going that way for the Trojans lately.
The Rollers used a spectacular second-quarter haymaker and solid free throw shooting to knock off the Trojans 58-50 in a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division boys basketball game.
Chambersburg has now lost three straight and six of eight.
"The effort was really good except the second quarter. That really got us behind and you can't do that against Steel-High or anybody in our league," Trojan coach Shawn Shreffler said. "I thought we backed down and weren't physical with them."
Trailing 12-8 after one quarter, it didn't take long for the Rollers to get, well, rolling in the second quarter.
A flurry of four fastbreak buckets -- including a flying one-handed slam by Jeff Davis (10 points) -- two putbacks and a layup put Steel-High ahead 24-13.
The lead eventually swelled to 29-15, as Chambersburg didn't hit a field goal
How big was the 21-4 second-quarter run? Steel-High was 10 of 17 in the second period and just 8 of 34 the rest of the game.
"I basically didn't like that we were getting beat to loose balls," Rollers coach Mike Pilsitz said of the first quarter. "Coming down here, I knew we had to play our best 32 minutes of the season to get a victory."
Meanwhile, the Trojans shot 14 of 27 in the second half, but made just one field goal (on 9 attempts) over the ill-fated eight minutes.
"We had 12 rebounds in the first quarter -- we average 25 per game -- and we turn around in the second quarter and have three rebounds," Shreffler said. "That, I thought, was an indicator of where we were on the scoreboard as well."
That being said, Chambersburg had its chances in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans pulled within 36-30 after three quarters and scored the first four points of the fourth on drives to the hoop by Skyler Roman and Gabe Carson-Rivera, who led with 12 points.
Three times Chambersburg got within two points and two other times they were within a 3-pointer of tying the game.
But each time, Steel-High had an answer.
"In the third quarter, we showed we are capable of beating ourselves on any given night," Pilsitz said. "(Chambersburg) made a couple plays and our kids responded and held it together."
The biggest response came after Carson-Rivera scored following a steal to cut the deficit to 44-41 with 2:12 left.
The Rollers' Ryan Hill (14 points) scored inside to make it a five-point lead and Davis picked off a pass near midcourt and swooped in for some two-handed thunder. After Chambersburg's Tyler Young hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 48-44, Steel-High was money from the foul line in front of the orange-clad CASHS Crazies.
It hit 16 of 22 foul shots in the fourth quarter and 72 percent for the game. The Rollers got an unexpected lift from Troy Love, who led the way with 19 points.
"We got really close a couple times and either couldn't convert offensively or get that big rebound at the defensive end of the floor," Shreffler said. "The kids battled and played hard, we just have to try and keep getting better."
Notes: Kyle Patterson played limited minutes due to sickness and the Trojans' other big man, Tyler Fore, fouled out ... Young added 10 points for Chambersburg ... Pilsitz had an interesting take on the Trojans' new gym: "We talked about the old gym being like The Barn at Hershey and this being the new Giant Center. That's how we likened it to our kids, but it was still the same environment, a tough place to play."
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Joel Rineer may be reached at 262-4819 or jrineer@publicopinionnews.com.
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Steel-High 58, Chambersburg 50
STEEL-HIGH
Max Ward 1-3 3-4 6, Ryan Hill 5-9 4-7 14, Jermell Fleming 2-12 3-3 7, Stephan Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Troy Love 6-12 7-8 19, James Wilbern 0-1 2-4 2, Dareece Hairston 0-0 0-0 0, Jeff Davis 4-14 2-3 10, Joe Wright-Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, J.C. Brandt 0-0 0-0 0, Gabe George 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 18-51 21-29 58.
CHAMBERSBURG
Jordan Riley 1-8 0-0 3, Kayone Teal 1-2 1-2 3, Tyler Fore 1-2 2-2 4, Tyler Young 4-8 0-0 10, Ryan Borzager 1-6 0-0 2, Kyle Patterson 1-2 0-0 3, Gabe Carson-Rivera 5-11 1-2 12, Skyler Roman 3-6 0-0 6, Tyler Larson 3-6 0-0 7. Totals 20-51 4-6 50.
Steel-High 8 21 7 22 -- 58
Chambersburg 12 4 14 20 -- 50
3-point shots -- SH 1-10 (Ward); Chbg 6-18 (Young 2, Riley, Patterson, Carson-Rivera, Roman). Shooting -- SH 35.3%; Chbg 39.2%. Rebounds -- Chbg 27 (Carson-Rivera 7). Assists -- Chbg 10 (Young, Roman 4). Steals -- Chbg 3. Turnovers -- SH 9; Chbg 11. Blocked shots -- SH 4 (Davis 2). Fouled out -- Fore.
JV: Chambersburg 51, Steel-High 32. Mitch Stahl led the Trojans (13-3) with 15 points.
