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Cumberland Valley takes down Chambersburg for first district title
 

Cumberland Valley takes down Chambersburg for first district title

Written by: TJ Eck on March 2, 2024

 

It had never been done. Well, at least, not until Friday night.

“It feels amazing,” said Cumberland Valley junior forward Creston Austin. “First one ever in CV history.”

Austin and his Eagles teammates accomplished a feat that had not been done in the history of the Cumberland Valley boys basketball program: winning a district title. Cumberland Valley defeated Chambersburg, 48-39, at the Giant Center in Hershey Friday evening to claim the PIAA District 3 Class AAAAAA championship.

“This group, from start to finish, has been a group that they have embraced every challenge that we have thrown at them,” said Cumberland Valley head coach David Vespignani. “More than anything, what I love about this group is they don’t care who shoots, they don’t care who scores, they don’t care who gets the credit. It’s ‘I just want to win’.”

The Eagles opened Friday night’s game on a 12-5 run while playing an efficient, methodical style of basketball on both ends of the floor. The Trojans, behind the play of forward Jermere Jones, fought back and trailed by just three at halftime.

The third quarter proved to be the difference.

Cumberland Valley outscored Chambersburg, 18-11, in the third frame and built a 10-point lead thanks to a three-pointer at the buzzer by Austin.

Austin was the Eagles’ leading scorer Friday night. He made three three-pointers and finished with 17 points, 15 of them coming in the first three quarters. He also added five rebounds and two blocks.

“After the first three, I felt good,” said Austin. 

Vespignani added: “He’s a kid who knows how to score the ball. But I was even more impressed with his ability to rebound the ball. He really rebounded the ball well.”

JJ Lebo added 12 points for the Eagles while Jake Snyder registered nine points, four assists, and three steals for the district champs.

Chambersburg was led by JJ Kelly, who scored 17 points. Jones had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while missing part of the third quarter nursing an arm injury.

The Trojans advance to the state tournament and will play a first-round game against the No. 7 seed from District 1.

Cumberland Valley’s opening round state tournament game will be against the No. 12 seed from District 1.  The Eagles enter the bracket with momentum after winning Mid-Penn Conference and District 3 titles.

“It’s huge from a confidence standpoint,” said Vespignani. “Because when you get to the state playoffs, there’s 32 teams and there’s not one of them that’s bad. We got a week to get ready for whoever that’s gonna be…we’re back to everybody is 0-0 and we wanna take it one game at a time and go from there.”

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