JACKSON - It was like Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston before everyone barely sat down in their seats.

Looking to get off to a fast start, the Chesapeake Panthers jumped on the South Point Pointers early and cruised to a 57-30 win Friday to win the Division III sectional championship.

"We knew this was a dangerous game for us. We beat them twice pretty easy (in the regular season) so all the pressure was on us. We told our guys to come out early and knock them out," Chesapeake coach Norm Persin said.

P.J. Rase, Trent Finley and Brennan Hall scored 4 points each in the first quarter

as Chesapeake took a 14-5 lead.

After South Point's Jeremiah Taylor got a layup to start the second quarter, Chesapeake went on a 14-0 run featuring 5 points by Finley, 4 by Rase and a 3-pointer by Jeff Thornburg to make it 28-7 with 3:48 to go in the half.

Rase was fouled repeatedly and went to the line five times in the quarter. He made all 10 foul shots and was 12 of 12 for the half as Chesapeake took a 36-13 halftime lead.

"We wanted to shut down their main players (J.T.) Terry and (Chase) McWhorter," Finley said. "The last time we played, McWhorter teed off with 23. We took that away this time."

Taylor converted a 3-point play to start the second half, but the Panthers answered with layups by Hall and Justin Porter and it was 40-16.

Rase nailed a baseline jumper with 1:43 on the clock as the lead grew to 48-19.

A layup by Hall off a pass from Finley and two free throws by Zach Morrison gave Chesapeake its biggest lead of the game at 54-25 with 3:59 to play in the game.

"We ran our offense and got the ball where we wanted. Defensively in the first half we were all over them. Porter did a great job on Terry, and (Brent) Ransbottom and (Matt) Whitmore did a nice job on McWhorter," Persin said.

Taylor led the Pointers (10-12) with 14 points, but 8 were on foul shots. McWhorter was limited to one field goal on three attempts before fouling out.

Chesapeake (20-1) will play Adena at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at Ohio University in the district semifinals.

South Point5889=30

Chesapeake1422129=57

SOUTH POINT (10-12):

Chris Brown 1-7 (1-7) 0-1 3, Ryan Hong 0-0 (0-0) 2-2 2, J.T. Terry 2-9 (0-1) 0-0 4, Chase McWhorter 1-3 (1-2) 0-0 3, Jeremiah Taylor 3-8 (0-0) 8-12 14, David Absher 0-1 (0-0) 1-2 1, Rocky Roe 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Aaron Barnett 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Zach Norris 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Levi Garred 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Kyle Hughes 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Joey Stevens 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Heath Bridges 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 8-33

(3-13)

11-16

30. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: McWhorter (4th 3:59). Rebounds: 8-10=18 (Taylor 4, McWhorter 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Total rebounds: 20. Assists: 4 (McWhorter 2). Steals: 5 (Brown 4). Turnovers: 21. FG% – 24.2. FT% – 68.8. 3pt% – 23.1.

CHESAPEAKE (20-1):

Brennan Hall 6-7 (0-0) 2-2 14, Justin Porter 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, P.J. Rase 4-10 (0-2) 12-12 20, Trent Finley 4-7 (0-2) 1-1 9, Brent Ransbottom 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Matt Whitmore 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Caleb McComas 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jeffrey Thornburg 2-4 (1-2) 0-0 5, Dustin O'Brien 2-8 (0-0) 1-2 5, Zach Morrison 0-0 (0-0) 2-2 2, Mike Stapleton 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tyler Shoemaker 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-41

(1-6)

18-19

57. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Whitmore (4th 3:43). Rebounds: 12-19=31 (O'Brien 8, Finley 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Total rebounds: 32. Assists: 8 (Ransbottom 3, Finley 2, Porter 2). Steals: 10 (O'Brien 3, Rase 2, Finley 2, Ransbottom 2). Turnovers: 15. FG% – 46.3. FT% – 94.7. 3pt% – 16.7.