CHESAPEAKE - Winning the game was good news for the Chesapeake Panthers. Then more good news followed after the game.

The Panthers followed up a 54-39 Ohio Valley Conference win Tuesday over the Coal Grove Hornets by finding out that River Valley had upset Rock Hill 41-34.

The combination of the two games gave Chesapeake a one and one-half game lead over the Redmen.

"That gives us some breathing room, but we still have some tough games on the road," Panthers coach Norm Persin said.

Persin had good reason not to be involved in excessive celebration. The Panthers play at South Point on Friday, the only team to have beaten them. Chesapeake is 15-1 overall and 6-1 in the OVC.

Andy Stapleton had 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Panthers. P.J. Rase scored 10 points to go with two steals and Daniel Thompson had three assists and two steals.

"We played well early. Stapleton got us off to good start and we got some steals. We did the same thing the second half," Persin said.

Tommy Pemberton scored 11 points, Jimmy Lemon 10, and Brandon Rymer nine for the Hornets, 5-9 and 0-6 in the OVC.

"We just got whipped on the boards the first half, but we did a good job the second half," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said.

"And shooting 5 of 13 from the line against a good team like Chesapeake didn't help our cause."

Stapleton had seven points in the first quarter as Chesapeake went ahead 15-9.

The lead went to 31-16 at the half as Stapleton scored six more points in the second quarter.

Chesapeake went up by 20 points early in the third quarter, but Coal Grove closed the gap to 40-27 at the end of the quarter.

Pemberton scored six points in the fourth quarter, but the Panthers converted 4 of 6 from the line to prevent any comeback hopes.

Chesapeake was 24 of 58 from the field for 41 percent.

"We made a lot of shots from close range, but that's about the worst we've shot from the perimeter all year," Persin said.

Coal Grove hosts Rock Hill Friday in a league game.

Coal Grove971112-39

Chesapeake1516914-54

COAL GROVE (5-9, 0-6):

Shane Bridges 1 1 0-0 5, Brandon Rymer 3 1 0-0 9, Luke Tackett 0 0 2-2 2, Tyler Sexton 1 0 0-2 2, Tommy Pemberton 5 0 1-5 11, Jimmy Lemon 4 0 2-4 10, Randy Wise 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Melvin 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron Fields 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-45

(2)

5-13

39. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (15-1, 6-1):

Brennan Hall 3 0 0-0 6, Mike Stapleton 1 0 0-1 2, Daniel Thompson 2 0 2-2 6, Justin Porter 0 0 2-2 2, P.J. Rase 4 0 2-4 10, Jeff Thornburg 1 0 0-0 2, Trent Finley 4 0 0-0 8, Andy Stapleton 6 0 2-3 14, Jeremy Miller 2 0 0-1 4. Totals: 24-58

(0)

8-13

54. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 28 (A. Stapleton 11). Assists: 10 (Thompson 3). Steals: 12 (Rase 2, Thompson 2, Finley 2). Turnovers: 11.