CHAMBERSBURG — The third time was a charm for Central Dauphin.

But only for a half.

Ari Snyder

And then Chambersburg took over the game after halftime, outscoring the Rams 41-15 to collect a very satisfying 53-36 victory (their third over CD this year) in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal game at a raucous CASHS Field House on Friday night.

Better yet, the Trojans (18-5) will host a district semifinal game Tuesday, thanks to Red Lion's upset over No. 1 seed Central York. The 66-65 win sends the No. 8 seed Lions (17-7) to Chambersburg for a 7 p.m. game.

The Trojans have also clinched a berth in the PIAA State Tournament.

Central Dauphin (17-6) did everything right in the second quarter — after the teams had tied 10-10 in the first quarter — to take a 23-12 lead into halftime. The Rams held Chambersburg to just 2 points in the quarter with an active 2-3 zone and hit a couple of 3-pointers to take complete charge of the game.

"It was similar to the district game with Carlisle we had last year," Trojan coach Shawn Shreffler said. "They got ahead early and tried to take the air out of the ball a little, but we were able to come back."

And give a lot of the credit for the turnaround to Chambersburg junior J.J. Kelly. Held to just 2 points in the first half, the Trojan ace took off in the third, scoring the first 10 points himself and totaling 14 in the quarter.

"As soon as I saw that first shot go in, I knew I could take over the game," Kelly said. "My teammates got me the ball and I was locked in."

He scored on a turnover jumper in the lane, two free throws, a base line jumper, a thunderous fast break dunk on a pass from Landon Buhrman, a turnaround jumper, an impossible drive in which he changed direction mid-air, and another shot from the base line.

Shreffler said, "It wasn't like J.J. wasn't trying in the first half; we just didn't get him the ball enough. He wasn't able to put his impact on the game, and he doesn't force things. But in the third quarter, we needed him to be the difference and he was. The guys looked for him more."

The game was tied 31-31 after three quarters. A long Kelly three gave the Trojans the lead at 34-33, but Lleyton Fried answered right back with a 3-pointer, giving the Rams a 36-34 lead.

And then all heck broke loose.

Chambersburg scored the next 19 points, including 11 by Jermere Jones, to bludgeon Central Dauphin's chances.

"We noticed some things at halftime we needed to do better, and having a better focus was one of them," Jones said. "And, this was big — our coaches didn't give up on us.

"Once we started racking up the points, I knew their guards would have to try to double-team us, so I tried to stay open inside and my teammates did a great job of passing to me."

Jones tied the game with a high, banked layup. He missed the ensuing free throw, but Kelly grabbed the board and made a shot to give his team the lead for good at 38-36. Jones then made four more shots underneath, Snyder made two free throws and Kelly added a dunk just to give the fans a treat.

Kelly said," It was really fun at the end — the crowd was really wound up."

Chambersburg shot just 5-for-20 in the first half, including 1-for-9 in the second quarter. But in a remarkable change, the Trojans made 17 of 23 shots after halftime.

The defense limited the Rams to 5-for-18 shooting in the latter half and caused 9 turnovers.

Shreffler said, "Ari Snyder was all over the floor early; he was really hustling. I think eventually, everybody caught on to that. They did a great job against our zone, so we went to playing man and our guys responded well to that challenge."

NOTES: Kelly ended up with 25 points and Jones had 19 — only two other Trojans scored: Snyder (5) and Buhrman (4) … Wayne Fletcher Jr. led the Rams with 16 points.

Chambersburg 53, Central Dauphin 37
CENTRAL DAUPHIN
Jelani Easter 1 0-0 2, Wayne Fletcher 5 3-4 16, DJ Bridges 0 0-0 0, Lleyton Fried 3 1-2 8, Shakir Starling 2 2-2 7, Richard Chase 0 2-2 2, Jeff Franz 0 0-2 0, Shawn Wright 2 0-1 4. Totals 13 8-13 36.
CHAMBERSBURG
Ari Snyder 1 2-2 5, Grayson Kegerreis 0 0-0 0, Aden Swatsburg 0 0-0 0, Eli McDonald 0 0-0 0, Stan Lozius 0 0-0 0, Ben Etter 0 0-0 0, Colton Cornwell 0 0-0 0, J.J. Kelly 11 2-2 25, Landon Buhrman 2 0-0 4, Jermere Jones 8 3-7 19, Dylan Banda 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-11 53.
Central Dauphin             10     13       8       7     —     36
Chambersburg                10       2     19     22     —     53
3-point shots — CD 5 (Fletcher 3, Fried, Starling); Chbg 2 (Snyder, Kelly). Shooting — CD 13-36 (36%); Chbg 22-43 (51%). Turnovers — CD 12; Chbg 7.