PROCTORVILLE – The Chesapeake Panthers game plan was just two words: Play defense.

Saturday, January 06, 2001

PROCTORVILLE – The Chesapeake Panthers game plan was just two words: Play defense.

And that’s just what Josh Waugh and the Panthers did Friday night as they downed the Fairland Dragons 61-41 in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

Waugh was a key factor in the defensive plan as he held Fairland’s leading scorer Josh Dunfee to five points.

"That was our plan. Coach (Norm Persin) put me on their best play. I enjoy it," Waugh said. "We knew we had to shut them down. We knew if we did the job on defense, the offense would take care of itself."

With the defense forcing 24 turnovers, the Panthers turned those mistakes into easy baskets and remained unbeaten in seven games.

Chesapeake’s Anthony Delimpo had 23 points and eight rebounds to lead all players in both categories. Bobby Barbour scored 15 points and Waugh had 12 points.

Darren Colburn scored nine points and had five rebounds to pace the Dragons (1-6, 0-1). J. W. Jones had eight points and seven rebounds.

"Waugh played great defense, Barbour played well early, and Delimpo did a better job at the foul line," Persin said.

"But we have to get better. Maybe it came too easy too early and we got lackadaisical and too relaxed. We had too many wild turnovers."

The Panthers asserted themselves quickly. After Dunfee’s baseline jumper got the Dragons within 5-4, Chesapeake went on a 15-0 run that ended on a pair of free throws by Barbour when Fairland coach Joey Thacker was called for a technical.

Thacker was upset after starting center Glen Chapman picked up two quick fouls less than two minutes into the game.

"They have three guys who are 6-5 or taller. We have one big kid and he never gets a chance to play. What do you do?" Thacker said. "We played better after my technical. I told our players if Chesapeake was going to be physical they had to play through it. They jumped on us early, and for two-to-three minutes in the second half we had the lead down and then lost our composure."

K. C. Jones hit a 3-pointer to cut the Panthers lead to 23-13 with 5:18 left in the half. Chesapeake pulled away to a 33-16 lead with 2:20 left on two foul shots by Delimpo, but two foul shots by Jones and a 17-footer by Drew Brooks made it 34-22 at the half.

The two teams traded baskets the third quarter as the Panthers lead went to 44-30. Chesapeake gradually stretched its lead the fourth quarter as Waugh scored six points. The Panthers biggest lead was 55-34 on a 3-pointer by Adam Webb with 3:10 left.

Chesapeake 20 14 10 17 – 61

Fairland 7 15 8 11 – 41

CHESAPEAKE (7-0, 1-0): Bobby Barbour 5-10 (1-3) 4-4 15, Josh Waugh 5-9 (0-1) 0-2 10, Beckett Gue 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0, Zeb Best 2-7 (0-0) 1-2 5, Anthony Delimpo 8-13 (0-0) 7-9 23, Adam Webb 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Aaron Gossett 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Matt Miller 0-0 (0-0) 2-2 2, Abe Huff 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1. Totals: 21-43 (2-7) 15-21 61. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-13=22. Deadball/team rebounds: 4. Assists: 13 (Gue 5, Waugh 2, Barbour 2, Gossett 2). Steals: 11 (Waugh 3, Delimpo 3). Turnovers: 14. FG% – 48.8. FT% – 71.4. 3pt% – 28.6.

FAIRLAND (1-6, 0-1): Josh Dunfee 2-12 (0-2) 1-2 5, Drew Brooks 2-3 (1-1) 0-0 5, J. W. Jones 4-7 (0-0) 0-1 8, K. C. Jones 1-6 (1-4) 2-2 5, Glen Chapman 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Darren Colburn 3-4 (0-0) 3-5 9, Chris Dinwiddie 1-3 (0-0) 3-5 5, Brad Taliaferro 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Kyle Leadman 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Ryan White 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jeff Galley 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 15-36 (2-8) 9-15 41. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-12=19. Deadball/team rebounds: 3. Assists: 9 (Dunfee 2, Brooks 2, K. C. Jones 2). Steals: 5 (Dinwiddie 2). Turnovers: 24. FG% – 41.7. FT% – 60.0. 3pt% – 25.0.