Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

CHESAPEAKE — Just call the Chesapeake Panthers control freaks.

By keeping control of the game’s pace the Panthers were able to slip past the Minford Falcons 44-42 on Tuesday.

“We wanted to control the tempo and for the most part we were able to do that,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

Javon Thompson scored 14 points and Caleb Heffner had 12 points to lead the Panthers (12-5).

Jared McCray scored 15 points and Kenton Gullion added 10 points for Minford (13-4).

Heffner and Thompson combined for 10 points in the first quarter and Chesapeake jumped out to a 12-6 lead.

McCray scored 6 points, Cody Stapleton hit a pair of 3-pointers along with a free throw and Gullion had 5 points as Minford outscored Chesapeake 21-9 to take a 27-21 halftime lead.

Despite the lead, Minford managed just one offensive rebound in the first half.

“We missed a lot of easy shots that should not have been missed,” said Davis. “We played pretty good defense in the first quarter and we started the second quarter well, but then we had some breakdowns.”

Chesapeake came out of the locker room and rallied to take a 35-34 lead as Chad Meadows scored all 6 of his points for the Panthers.

The scoring slowed down in the fourth quarter as Chesapeake outscored Minford 9-8. Thompson hit a 3-pointer and sank a foul shot as the Panthers held on for the win.

Chesapeake travels to River Valley Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Minford 6 21 7 8 = 42

Chesapeake 12 9 14 9 = 44

MINFORD (13-4): Jared McCray 7 0 1-6 15, Austin McBee 2 0 0-1 4, Evan Howard 0 0 3-4 3, Cody Stapleton 0 2 2-2 8, Zach Farrar 1 0 0-0 2, Kenton Gullion 2 2 0-0 10. Totals: 12 4 6-12 42. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (12-5): Nick Duffield 2 1 0-0 7, Caleb Lindsey 2 0 1-2 5, Caleb Heffner 5 0 2-3 12, Javon Thompson 2 2 4-7 14, Aaron Saunders 0 0 0-0 0, Chad Meadows 3 0 0-3 6. Totals: 14 3 7-15 44. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.