Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PORTSMOUTH — Sometimes the best lessons learned are the toughest.

Coach Ryan Davis said his Chesapeake Panthers learned a lesson the hard way on Friday as they suffered their first loss of the season.

The Portsmouth Trojans not only came away with a 61-49 Ohio Valley Conference win but tightened up the league title chase.

Chesapeake is 16-1 overall and 8-1 in the OVC. Portsmouth is 12-5 and 8-2 in the conference.

“Hopefully we learned that we don’t just show up and people roll over for us,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

The Panthers had leading scorer Gage Rhoades back in the lineup after missing the last two games with a medical condition. Rhoades was given the green light to play, but the Panthers shooting performance hit a stop sign.

Chesapeake was 19 of 63 from the field 30 percent and 7 of 25 from behind the 3-point arc for 28 percent.

Portsmouth was 20 of 46 shooting for 44 percent and converted 18 of 24 free throws including 14 of 18 in the fourth quarter when Chesapeake trailed and was forced to play “hack and jack” by fouling on defense and launching 3-pointers on offense.

“We didn’t play well, we didn’t shoot well and we took a lot of bad shots,” said Davis. “Portsmouth didn’t do one thing in our scouting report that we didn’t talk about.”

Rhoades had 15 points while Jake Stevens scored 10 off the bench. Brad Meadows had 8 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 6:46 to play.

Ky’re Allison scored 20 points, Sky Oliver scored 17 and Kendall Reynolds added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Trojans. Alex Dickerson hauled down 16 rebounds.

Both teams struggle in the first quarter. Portsmouth led 6-0 after an alley-oop dunk by Dickerson at the 3:42 mark.

The Panthers trailed 9-5 at the end of the quarter after a 3-pointer by Nate Smith.

The Panthers got a layup by Aaron Thompson and a 3-ball by Stevens for their only lead of the game at 10-9 with 6:07 left in the half.

A putback by Allison and a steal and layup by Ethan Leonard put the Trojans back on top for good at 13-10.

Portsmouth led 20-12 after Allison followed up his own miss. Rhoades’s driving runner with two seconds on the clock cut the deficit to 20-14 at the half.

Oliver and Dickerson drained trifectas to start the second half and the lead was 26-14.

Chesapeake rallied late in the quarter to trail 34-30 on a stickback by Rhoades with 58 seconds on the clock, but Oliver’s 3-point play and layup with four seconds left in the quarter opened up a 39-30 lead.

Back-to-back layups by Allison gave Portsmouth its biggest lead at 46-30 with 4:46 left.

A triple by Rhoades with 1:19 left got the Panthers within 54-46, but the Trojans were 5 of 6 at the line over the final 1:12 to end any comeback hopes.

Chesapeake visits Gallipolis on Tuesday.

Chesapeake 5 9 16 19 = 49

Portsmouth 9 11 19 22 = 61

CHESAPEAKE (16-1, 8-1): Kolton Webb 0 2 0-0 6, Nate Smith 1 2 0-0 8, Gage Rhoades 5 1 2-2 15, Brad Meadows 4 0 0-0 8, Aaron Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Jake Stevens 2 2 0-1 10, Casey McComas 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Hutchison 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-61 2-3 49. 3-point goals: 7-25. Rebounds: 12-O, 22-D = 34 (Meadows 10, Smith 7, Thompson 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 8 (Smith 2, Thompson 2, Stevens 2). Steals: 6 (Smith 3, McComas 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Meadows (4th 6:46), Webb (4th 0:10).

PORTSMOUTH (12-5, 8-2): Sky Oliver 4 1 6-9 17, Ky’re Allison 7 0 6-9 20, Alex Dickerson 1 1 0-0 5, Kendall Reynolds 3 0 4-4 10, Ethan Leonard 2 1 2-2 9, Hunter Gibson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-46 18-24 61. 3-point goals: 3-11. Rebounds: 9-O, 26-D = 35 (Dickerson 16, Reynolds 7, Allison 5, Oliver 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 4 (Oliver 2, Allison 2). Steals: 5 (Leonard 2). Turnovers: 10. Blocked shots: 3 (Reynolds 2, Dickerson). Fouls: 6. Fouled out: None.

 

Ohio Valley Conference

Boys’ Basketball Standings

Through Friday’s Games

OVC ALL

W L W L

Chesapeake 8 1 16 1

Portsmouth 8 2 12 5

Ironton 5 3 9 7

Fairland 4 4 10 6

Coal Grove 4 5 8 8

Rock Hill 1 8 5 11

South Point 1 8 2 13