BOYS: Chambersburg hopes win is enough

CHAMBERSBURG - The Chambersburg boys basketball team hosted Northern York on Thursday night in a hard-fought game that had playoff implications on the line for the Trojans.

Chambersburg entered the game right on the bubble of the District 3 playoff consideration and needed the win to possibly bump themselves into the top 20 in the rankings. Making the game even more emotional was the fact that it was Chambersburg’s Senior Night and with a loss would be their last game of the season.

The Polar Bears (8-14) managed to stay competitive for the majority of the game, but Chambersburg (11-10) kept pushing and pushing, and eventually won by a 15-point margin, 51-36, behind strong play from its juniors.

The Trojans hope to find out Friday if they finished in the top 20 of the district power rankings.

Straight out of the gate both teams struggled, missing wide-open shots and committing turnovers. Northern eventually began to  get into a rhythm, but the Trojans continued to start slowly until junior ByShawn Mincie became aggressive on the fast break, finishing tough layups and getting to the line.

Mincie ignited Chambersburg's energy and the Trojans quickly stormed back to take a 27-16 lead at halftime.

“When we really needed a spark in the beginning of the game, he got a few breakaway layups. As a result of his aggressiveness he got to the line and made his free throws and really got the team rolling,” Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said, “ByShawn had a very solid game.”

Mincie finished the game with a game-high 17 points and went 9-for-13 from the charity stripe.

“This season had its ups and downs and tonight we kind of overlooked them and expected them to be a team that we would just roll over easily,” Mincie said. “I feel like I did a decent job tonight, but I should’ve made more free throws.”

All year the Achilles heel for the Trojans has been their lack of true height. This weakness was something that Polar Bears coach Kyle McGill looked to expose.

“We definitely had a significant height advantage, but they have a strong perimeter defense, which made it hard at times to get the ball into the post," McGill said. "That's what we really wanted to do coming into the game.”

In the third quarter the Polar Bears rebounded from their tough end to the first half and focused on working within the paint again. At one point Northern brought the score back to within five points, but timely baskets by Mincie and fellow junior Cole Christian stemmed the comeback attempt.

Chambersburg worked the lead back up to double digits and finished the game off.

Notes: The Trojans made 22 of 32 free throws to an 8-for-17 effort by the Bears ... Cole Christian scored 12 points and Cade Whitefield had nine ... Northern was led by Eric Jacobs with 12.

Chambersburg 51, Northern York 36

Northern (36)

Eric Jacobs 2 6-7 12, Jack Walsh 3 0-1 7, Scott Leitholf 2 0-0 4, Curtis Robison 2 0-4 4, Jared Kearns 1 0-0 3, Ryan McGill 1 0-0 2, Nick Sacoman 0 2-3 2, Ryan Heisey 1 0-0 2, Bobby Shelly 0 0-0 0, Dominik Topper 0 0-0 0, Owen Clendaniel 0 0-0 0, Michael Ginder 0 0-0 0. Totals — 12 8-17 36.

Chambersburg (51)

ByShawn Mincie 4 9-13 17, Cole Christian 4 4-4 12, Cade Whitfield 2 5-6 9, Carlin Christian 1 1-3 3, John Shupp 1 0-2 3, Tyler Collier 0 3-4 3, Cade Brindle 1 0-0 2, Ezechiel Cadet 1 0-0 2, Seth Brouse 0 0-0 0, Evan Schreffler 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 22-32 51.

Northern York _ 4 _ 12 _ 10 _ 10 _ — _ 36

Chambersburg _ 11 _ 16 _ 6 _ 18 _ — _ 51

3-point goals — Nor 4 (Jacobs 2, Kearns, Walsh), Chbg 1 (Shupp).