WAYNESBORO — The Chambersburg boys basketball team started its season about a week later than most teams.

J.J. Kelly

But when it finally came time to play, the Trojans were ready to get after it. Really ready.

Chambersburg secured an 81-66 victory over a very good Warwick team in an end-to-end battle Friday night in Waynesboro in a first-round game of the Franklin County vs. Everyone Tournament.

And no one, it seems, was as ready as J.J. Kelly. The 6-foot-6 Trojan junior jumping jack poured in 31 points with a wide variety of baskets — including 14 in the wild first quarter — and had a pair of thunderous alley-oop dunks that got the house rocking.

"Man, we've all been practicing and scrimmaging and sitting around waiting for this first game," Kelly said. "And I didn't play football this year so I was even more ready. It was nice to play a good team, too — it showed us where we are."

Where they are — at least for one game — is sitting on a powder keg of offense. The 81 points is the most for a Chambersburg team since early January of 2021. Last year's highest scoring total was 68.

Friday night, the Trojans put 25 on the board in the first quarter and 40 in the first half. But the thing is, Warwick also had 25 in the first and 40 at the half.

"They shoot the ball really well, don't they?" Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said of the Warriors, who sank 8 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half.

"I think we communicated better in the second half (on defense), talked more, and we made a few switches with assignments. We gave up 40 in the first half, but only 11 in the third quarter."

The Trojans also did a better job on the boards, scoring five rebounds baskets in the second half to none in the first half.

"I think after one quarter, they had out-rebounded us 9-3, which is not what we were expecting," Shreffler said. "But we started to settle down on offense and hammer the boards, and I think we ended up with more rebounds in the end. We got second shots and it allowed us to get out in transition."

The first quarter was a frenzy of baskets at both ends. Kelly and Warwick's Caleb Johnsen each banged in a trio of 3-pointers in that quarter and the teams combined to hit 20 of 35 shots.

Chambersburg scored the first 9 points of the second quarter to lead 34-25, but it took the Warriors just a short time to turn that around and hold a 38-36 advantage.

Early in the third, three buckets each by sophomore Landon Buhrman and senior Jermere Jones, and 6 points by Kelly, put the Trojans up 59-47. Then came the first of Kelly's massive dunks.

Colton Cornwell received the ball in the far left corner and floated a ridiculously high pass that Kelly skied to get and then flushed through the net.

Warwick used 7 free throws to edge back in it, down 65-57. But midway through the fourth, Kelly pounded in the exclamation mark when he saw a lob pass coming from Ari Snyder, hung in the air and then ripped it through, which gave his team a 75-59 lead and tucked the game away.

"We just make visual contact on those," Kelly said. "That second one, I didn't think I could get it. My arm was way back, but I decided to try it anyway."

Kelly, of course, wasn't the only player with a good night. Jones was tough inside and added 14 points. Buhrman had an excellent debut, putting up 14 points. Cornwell had 9 points and Snyder added 7.

Shreffler said, "I thought Colton did a lot of good communicating out there. It was good to get a lot of guys in the scoring column."

NOTES: Chambersburg will play Bishop McDevitt in the second round Saturday, at 5 p.m. … Warwick will take on Waynesboro at 6:30 … McDevitt beat the Indians 34-31 in the second game Friday … For Warwick (1-2), Johnsen scored 19 points.

Chambersburg 81, Warwick 66
WARWICK
Tyree Hughes 2 0-0 5, Trevor Evans 3 0-0 8, Parker Horst 1 2-2 5, Cody Ryan 2 0-0 4, Carter Horst 2 5-7 10, Mason Burr 4 0-0 11, Caleb Johnsen 7 2-4 19, Amarie Cooper 2 0-1 4. Totals 23 9-14 66.
CHAMBERSBURG
Ari Snyder 1 4-5 7, Grayson Kegerreis 1 1-2 4, Aden Swatsburg 0 2-2 2, Eli McDonald 0 0-0 0, Ben Etter 0 0-0 0, Colton Cornwell 4 0-0 9, J.J. Kelly 12 3-4 31, Landon Buhrman 6 2-4 14, Dylan Banda 0 0-0 0, Jermere Jones 7 0-0 14. Totals 31 12-17 81.
Warwick                 25    15    11    15    —    66
Chambersburg     25    15    23    18    —    81
3-point shots — War 11 (Johnsen 3, Burr 3, Evans 2, Hughes, P.Horst, C.Horst); Chbg 7 (Kelly 4, Snyder, Kegerreis, Cornwell). Shooting — War 42.6% (23-54); Chbg 49.2% (31-63). Turnovers — War 14; Chbg 9.