LINGLESTOWN — Central Dauphin forward Donovan Hill was a man on a mission Friday night.
Jacob Bassham
(photo by Chris Shatzer)
The Rams' 6-foot-8 star poured in 29 points, was dominating on the glass, blocked a few shots and altered many more, and carried his team to a 57-41 victory over Chambersburg in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal on CD's court.
The Trojans (17-6) will play Tuesday in a consolation round game against Cumberland Valley (18-6), which was upset by Warwick 58-51 in OT, at CV. The winner plays for fifth place and the loser plays for seventh and the final berth in the PIAA Tournament. CD (16-4) faces Warwick (19-5) in the semifinals Tuesday.
"Hill was playing very physically, and we couldn't match that," Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said. "I thought early on, we got some really good looks (inside) and weren't able to finish. Maybe we weren't able to play through the physicality being allowed, or maybe we were being intimidated by Hill's size, but we couldn't convert.
"So it was a combination of not scoring on those situations, and then giving up some easy baskets to them that got us in a hole."
The game was tied 2-2, then the Rams slowly imposed their will. Hill had 16 points as CD took a 28-18 halftime lead.
When the third period began, the Trojans zipped to an 8-0 run that got a very vocal and good-sized Chambersburg crowd back into it and brought the score to 28-26. A layup and a nice fast break bucket by Jacob Bassham, a fast break layup by Eli Shearer and a pair of free throws by Andon Martin got the Trojans within striking distance.
But Central Dauphin coach Wayne Fletcher called a timeout at that point and got his team settled down. The Rams then scored the next 10 points to go ahead 38-26 and Chambersburg never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Shreffler said, "Defense created the offense when we had that good spurt in the third — the defense was really great. But CD is very athletic and very quick and when they can be really physical on top of that, it makes it hard to play them."
Central Dauphin's defense had a big say in the outcome. The Trojans were held to a single 3-pointer, by Shearer, Chambersburg had very few uncontested shots, and had quite a few that were altered by their opponents.
Shearer led the scoring with 13 points, Martin and J.J. Kelly each had 9 and Bassham scored 8.
"I'm proud of our kids for the way they battled," Shreffler said. "By the playoffs, everybody has their bumps and bruises, but we've got four guys who are nursing some kind of injury and they're just toughing it out."
Central Dauphin 57, Chambersburg 41
CHAMBERSBURG
Jacob Bassham 4 0-0 8, Carter Fogal 0 0-0 0, Eli Shearer 5 2-2 13, Jai'tavius Kelly 2 5-6 9, Ian Stewart 0 0-0 0, Andon Martin 3 3-4 9, James Lilley 0 0-0 0, Nevin Yeager 1 0-0 2, Noah Yeager 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 10-12 41.
CENTRAL DAUPHIN
Donovan Hill 10 7-7 29, Jaydon Laudermilch 2 1-2 6, Andrew Renaldi 0 2-2 2, Davon Haggans 2 3-4 7, Keon Blanding-Dockens 1 0-0 3, Christian Wilburn 0 0-0 0, Travis Linn 1 0-0 2, Jett Franz 1 2-2 4, Wayne Fletcher 1 2-2 4. Totals 18 17-19 57.
Chambersburg 7 11 13 10 — 41
Central Dauphin 12 16 14 15 — 57
3-point shots — Chbg 1 (Shearer); CD 4 (Hill 2, Laudermilch, Blanding-Dockens). Shooting — Chbg 15-45 (33%); CD 15-31 (48%). Turnovers — Chbg 13; CD 10.
