Chesapeake – The Rock Hill Redmen have struggled to beat the Chesapeake Panthers in Ohio Valley Conference play in recent years.

Wednesday, January 19, 2000

Chesapeake – The Rock Hill Redmen have struggled to beat the Chesapeake Panthers in Ohio Valley Conference play in recent years.

With Chesapeake coming off a hard-fought loss Saturday to No. 2 ranked Scott County, Ky., coach Norm Persin wondered whether or not his team would be ready for the Redmen.

The Panthers put their coach’s concerns at ease by hitting 21-23 free throws and knocking off the Redmen 71-46 Tuesday.

"There are a couple of games a year as a coach when you wonder how they will respond," Persin said. "We have some sore ankles and I didn’t think we had our legs, but we really shot the ball well."

A balanced scoring attack from the Panthers placed three players in double figures. Justin Saunders led the way with 15 points, Anthony Delimpo had 14 and Bobby Barbour had 12. Delimpo also led all rebounders with 13.

"Saunders stepped up and had a big game filling in for Pemberton," Persin said. "Matt White played well and so did Josh Waugh. We have been doing a good job of doing the little things."

Brian Tennant led the Redmen with 11 points and eight rebounds. Billy Mullins added nine points and Brent McCoy and David Schug added eight apiece.

Trailing 2-0 on a McCoy layup, Barbour and Andy Clark got the Panthers going when they each hit a 3-pointer. A six-point run minutes later put the Panthers ahead 12-4.

McCoy, Tennant and Mullins each hit short jumpers giving the Redmen a six-point run of their own and cutting the lead to 12-10 with 1:35 left in the first.

Chesapeake closed the quarter on a jumper from Clark and opened the second with a pair of tip-ins from White who converted one of them into a 3-point play making it 21-10.

The Panthers went on another run later in the quarter outscoring the Redmen 11-2. Delimpo hit a layup and a breakaway dunk and a steal and a layup from Saunders gave the Panthers a 34-16 edge with 2:01 left in the half.

Throughout the second half the Panthers were able to answer any charges from the Redmen. Scoring runs of eight and 10 points settled the issue as the lead went to 63-35 after three quarters.

Chesapeake improved to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the OVC while the Redmen drop to 6-6 and 2-2.

ROCK HILL – 10 14 11 11 – 46: Isaac Kitchen 0 0 0-0 0, Brent McCoy 3 0 2-2 8, David Large 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Townsend 0 0 0-0 0, George Mullins 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Music 0 0 0-0 0, Travis Gabehart 0 0 0-0 0, Billy Mullins 3 0 3-4 9, Jason Joseph 0 0 0-0 0, Brian Tennant 5 0 1-3 11, Brent Clagg 1 1 2-2 7, Nate Lambert 0 0 1-2 1, Tanner Heaberlin 0 0 2-2 2, David Schug 2 0 4-7 8. Totals: 24-55 (1) 15-22 46. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 26 (Tennant 8). Turnovers: 19. Blocks: 4.

CHESAPEAKE – 16 26 21 8 – 71: Adam Webb 0 0 2-2 2, Bobby Barbour 2 1 5-5 12, Andy Clark 1 2 0-0 8, Josh Waugh 0 0 3-4 3, Joey Macri 0 0 1-2 1, Justin Saunders 4 0 7-7 15, Beckett Gue 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Miller 0 1 0-0 3, Abe Huff 0 0 0-0 0, Zeb Best 1 0 2-2 4, Matt White 4 0 1-1 9, Anthony Delimpo 7 0 0-0 14. Totals: 24-55 (4) 21-23 71. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 36 (Delimpo 13). Blocks: 7 (Delimpo 4). Turnovers: 14.