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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
The Altoona Mountain Lions wrapped up their regular season with a 69-41 Mid-Penn Conference loss to an athletic, talented Chambersburg team Monday night at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse.
Whether the Mountain Lions, who finished the regular season with a 1-21 record, enter the District 6 Class 6A basketball playoffs later this month, remains to be seen.
Second-year Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer expects the decision to be rendered by this morning.
"Actually, I'm going to talk to (Altoona Athletic Director) Mr. (Phil) Riccio tonight or Tuesday morning, and after he confers with members of our school administration, the decision on the playoffs will be made sometime Tuesday morning,'' Pfeffer said.
State College and Mifflin County are also in the District 6 Class 6A playoff field.
"It's up in the air at this point -- I've said before that I don't think a 1-21 record is playoff-worthy, even though the effort of our players has been outstanding all season,'' added Pfeffer, whose team finished 1-14 in conference play. "It's a tough decision. It's an open playoff format, but at some point, your record has to be worthy of the playoffs. If the decision is made that we are entering the playoffs, we will certainly be practicing hard in preparation for the playoffs.''
Chambersburg (17-5, 10-4) proved to be a quite worthy opponent for the Mountain Lions Monday, as the Trojans dominated the game from the opening tip.
Led by 6-foot-6 junior forward J.J. Kelly's game-high 29 points, Chambersburg bolted out to a 19-7 lead after one quarter and a 33-14 advantage at halftime before expanding the margin to 54-27 after three quarters.
Kelly -- a Division I basketball recruit who has three individual jumping gold medals in the PIAA outdoor Class 3A track and field meet and another in the state indoor meet to his credit - scored 10 points in the first quarter and nine in the second.
He exhibited his superior jumping ability with four dunks in the game, including three off assists from teammates near the rim.
"He's a pretty special athlete,'' Chambersburg coach Shawn Shreffler said of Kelly. "He's played for us since he was a freshman, and every year, he's grown a lot as a player. I continue to see his growth and development from game to game. It's really neat to see how he has involved as a player.''
Kelly hit a game-opening layup, two baseline jumpers, and finished a rush to the basket with a dunk that he turned into a 3-point play after he was fouled and hit the subsequent free throw.
"I thought we came out in transition and moved the ball well tonight,'' Kelly said. "We played good defense, and we got to the rim when we needed to.''
Displaying his extraordinary versatility, Kelly hit a jumper from the top of the key, scored another field goal on a putback, finished off an alley-oop assist from teammate Stan Lozius for another dunk, and scored another field goal from the paint in the second quarter.
"They're well-coached, they hit the open shots, they're athletic, and they rebound and defend well,'' Pfeffer said of the Trojans, who also converted seven 3-point field goals in the game. "They're just an all-around, well-oiled machine.
"Right now, they are where we would eventually like to be as a basketball team,'' Pfeffer added.
Kelly was the only player on either team in double figures Monday. Senior Isaac Walker led the Mountain Lions with nine points on three 3-point field goals, and another senior, Cohen Crawford, added eight points.
With Kelly grabbing a game-high seven rebounds, Chambersburg fashioned a 34-29 edge on the boards.
"Our guys came out and played hard tonight, and that was out of respect for Altoona, because we knew that they would come out and play hard,'' said Shreffler, whose team will host either Central Dauphin or Dallastown in the opening round of the District 3 Class 6A playoffs next Tuesday."
CHAMBERSBURG (69): Snyder 3 0-0 8, Jones 3 0-2 6, Kelly 12 5-9 29, Buhrman 1 0-0 2, Cornwell 3 0-0 9, Lozius 2 0-0 5, Kegerreis 1 0-0 2, McDonald 0 3-4 3, Banda 0 2-2 2, Swatsburg 1 0-0 3, Etter 0 0-0 0. Totals - 26 10-17 69.
ALTOONA (41): Crawford 2 4-4 8, Greaser 2 0-0 5, LaRocco 1 0-0 2, Lowrey 0 0-0 0, Corso 1 0-0 3, Owulade 1 4-4 6, Walker 3 0-0 9, Harrington 0 0-0 0, Purvis 0 0-0 0, Hicks 1 0-0 2, Sankey 2 1-2 6, Polito 0 0-0 0, Herr 0 0-0 0, Simendinger 0 0-0 0. Totals - 13 9-10 41.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Chambersburg 19 14 21 15 -- 69
Altoona 7 7 13 14-- 41
3-point goals: Chambersburg 7 (Cornwell 3, Snyder 2, Lozius, Swatsburg); Altoona 6 (Walker 3, Corso, Sankey, Greaser).
Records: Chambersburg (17-5, 10-4 Mid-Penn); Altoona (1-21, 1-14 Mid-Penn).
Officials: Dan Solomon, Mike Andrews, Dave Heim.
JV: Altoona, 49-34. High scorers--Grillo, C, 12; Hicks, A, 13.