The Hempfield defense had no answer for Chambersburg's Eli Shearer for the first 31 minutes and 51 seconds Friday night.
Eli Shearer
(photo by Chris Shatzer)
But in the final 9 seconds, leading by two points, the Black Knights denied Shearer the ball off an in-bounds play, and two subsequent Trojan shots missed the mark, enabling Hempfield to capture a 49-47 victory at Buchanan Gym in the District 3 Class 6A fifth-place game.
Shearer erupted for 33 of Chambersburg's 47 points, including 20 of his team's 26 in the opening half.
"Eli was awesome," Trojan coach Shawn Shreffler said. "There have been some moments this year that I've seen him do things that I haven't seen (here at Chambersburg), well … ever."
Chambersburg (18-7) will play in the first round of the PIAA Tournament on Wednesday, and will travel to play the District 1 champion — either Norristown or Lower Merion (ranked No. 5 in the state) — at their home gym. Those teams meet in the district final Saturday. Hempfield (21-7) will play the loser of that game.
A number of factors hurt the Trojans on Friday:
— They made 13 turnovers to just two for Hempfield, and four of those came in the final quarter.
— The defense got stung by the Black Knights early, leading to a 17-9 lead for Hempfield in the early going.
— In the final 1:15, Hempfield made two steals and scored on both of them, denying the Trojans two chances to win the game.
Shearer made two free throws to tie the game at 45, then put Chambersburg ahead 47-45 when he scored on a putback. The Black Knights then missed a shot at the other end and J.J. Kelly grabbed the rebound. But as Kelly turned upcourt, a Hempfield player punched the ball out of his hands and it went to Michael Hester, who was fouled. He went to the line and made both shots to tie it up at 47 with 1:09 remaining.
The Trojans appeared willing to take the last shot, but Hempfield anticipated a pass by Shearer and stole the ball. They hit Michael Rieker with a pass and he scored with 22 seconds left to make it 49-47.
With nine seconds left, the Trojans came out of a timeout and set two picks to try to get Shearer the ball, but he was well-defended. The pass instead went to Jacob Bassham, who put up a three that went off the rim. Kelly fought for the rebound and tried a turnaround jumper, but it also hit off the rim and Hempfield prevailed.
"We had two possessions there when we could have won the game," Shreffler said. "We just couldn't hold onto it."
Hempfield shot very well early and still led 22-14 early in the second period when the Trojans caught fire. Carter Fogal buried a 3-pointer, then after a Black Knight basket, Shearer connected on his third trey. Kelly hit a jumper in the lane and Shearer dropped in two foul shots to tie the game. Hempfield had scored 20 points in the first quarter, but just 6 in the second.
"I think one big difference was we didn't come out ready to play defense at a high level," Shreffler said. "We had some breakdowns on defense and it led to them having a quick start. We did settle down and do much better."
The Trojans' largest lead was 35-30 in the third period after Kelly scored on a rebound basket, and they still led 39-38 after three periods. Shearer scored all eight of his team's points in the final quarter, which wasn't quite enough to pull out the win.
For the Black Knights, Miguel Pena scored 13 points and Ben Troyer added 12.
Hempfield 49, Chambersburg 47
CHAMBERSBURG
Jacob Bassham 0 0-0 0, Carter Fogal 1 0-0 3, Eli Shearer 11 7-7 33, Jai'tavius Kelly 3 0-0 6, Ian Stewart 0 0-0 0, Andon Martin 1 1-2 3, Nevin Yeager 0 0-2 0, Noah Yeager 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-11 47.
HEMPFIELD
Miguel Pena 5 0-0 13, Michael Hester 1 2-2 4, Chase Calabretta 3 0-0 6, Michael Rieker 3 0-0 7, Parker Wolfe 3 0-1 7, Logan Harelson 0 0-0 0, Ben Troyer 5 1-3 12. Totals 20 3-6 49.
Chambersburg 14 12 13 8 — 47
Hempfield 20 6 12 11 — 49
3-point shots — Chbg 4 (Shearer 3, Fogal); Hemp 6 (Pena 3, Rieker, Wolfe, Troyer). Shooting — Chbg 17-39 (43.6%); Hemp 20-48 (41.7%). Turnovers — Chbg 13, Hemp 2.
