CHESAPEAKE – When the Chesapeake Panthers dial long distance, they use 1-800-B-A-R-B-O-U-R.

Saturday, December 02, 2000

CHESAPEAKE – When the Chesapeake Panthers dial long distance, they use 1-800-B-A-R-B-O-U-R.

After falling behind 18-11 the first quarter in Friday night’s opener, the Panthers kept that line busy as Bobby Barbour hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points to rally Chesapeake past the Gallipolis Blue Devils 63-51.

"Barbour shot the ball well, and he played good defense. He was about the only one to play good defense," Panthers coach Norm Persin said.

Persin wasn’t happy with the Panthers defense, and he was even more upset about 19 turnovers.

"We’re forcing things. Sometimes you can deliver the ball, but in other cases we’re not doing a good job at making good decisions," Persin said.

Backing Barbour was Anthony Delimpo with 16 points and six rebounds while Zeb Best had 10 points and six rebounds.

"We did some things right. Best played well offensively. He came in and gave us a spark. Adam Webb gave us some good minutes, and Matt Miller was strong," Persin said.

Dustin Deckard had 15 point, Andre Geiger scored 12, and Tony Moore added 10 to lead the Blue Devils.

Deckard had 11 of his points the first quarter as Gallipolis jumped in front.

Best came off the bench the second quarter and scored eight points and Barbour had 11 points including three 3-pointers as Chesapeake outscored the Blue Devils 26-8 to take a 37-26 lead.

The Panthers used a 10-2 run to open the quarter to go up 21-20. David Finney put the Blue Devils ahead 23-21 at the 5:00 mark, but Best sank two foul shots and hit an 8-footer as Chesapeake took the lead for good.

Best followed up a missed shot with three seconds left in the half that set the halftime score.

Barbour’s 3-pointer at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter gave Chesapeake its biggest lead at 47-29, but Gallipolis closed the quarter with 10 unanswered points and it was 47-39.

"We’re not putting out the effort we need. There’s no intensity with some guys. We’ve been telling them that in practice. It came to a stand-still tonight," Persin said.

Two foul shots by Travis McKinniss and a follow up shot by Nick Dressel closed the gap to 47-443 with 6:18 to play.

But layups by Josh Waugh and Delimpo triggered a 10-2 run and the Panthers opened up some breathing room at 57-45 with 2:58 to play.

Gallipolis never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

The Panthers host South Webster Tuesday.

Gallipolis 18 8 13 12 – 51

Chesapeake 11 26 10 16 – 63

GALLIPOLIS (0-1): Tony Moore 4-10 (1-3) 1-2 10, T. J. Hill 2-6 (0-1) 0-0 2, Andre Gieger 5-7 (2-4) 0-0 12, Cody Caldwell 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, David Finney 2-2 (0-0) 4-6 8, Dustin Deckard 6-13 (1-1) 2-4 15, Travis McKinniss 0-1 (0-1) 2-2 2, Nick Dressel 1-4 (0-2) 0-0 2, Allen Skinner 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Donnie Johnson 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Ryan Matura 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-44 (4-11) 9-14 51. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: Hill. Rebounds: 24 (Deckard 11). Assists: 4. Steals: 10 (Moore 2, Caldwell 2, McKinniss 2). Turnovers: 22.

CHESAPEAKE (1-0): Anthony Delimpo 7-13 (0-0) 2-2 16, Beckett Gue 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Bobby Barbour 7-14 (5-8) 2-2 21, Aaron Gossett 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Matt Miller 2-3 (1-2) 0-0 5, Joey Macri 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Adam Webb 2-2 (0-0) 2-2 6, Josh Waugh 1-4 (0-0) 0-3 2, Zeb Best 4-5 (0-0) 2-2 10, Joey Macri 0-0 (0-0) 0-0, Abe Huff 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brad Fulton 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tommy Hill 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Nick Karle 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 24-45 (7-12) 8-12 63. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 24 (Best 6, Delimpo 6). Assists: 5 (five with one). Steals: 9 (Barbour 3, Delimpo 2, Gossett 2). Turnovers: 19.