CHESAPEAKE — The story has become a broken record for the Chesapeake Panthers.

It’s about to break the opposition up even worse.

Sparked by their defense, the Chespeake Panthers cruised past the Symmes Valley Vikings 85-31 Friday in a non-league game.

“The defense has played well. The last three games we’ve caused a lot of turnovers. We’re improving defensively and we’re passing the ball well,” Panthers coach Norm Persin said.

The offense played well, too, with three players in double figures led by P.J. Rase with 18 points and both Tyler Shoemaker and Brent Ransbottom scored 16.

Ransbottom had eight points in the first quarter to put the Panthers ahead 18-6.

Shoemaker scored all 16 of his points in the second quarter as Chesapeake blitzed the Vikings 30-11 to build a 48-17 halftime cushion.

“We got a bunch of steals and ran our transition game well. We played good defense,” Persin said.

P.J. Rase scored nine of Chesapeake’s 26 points in the third quarter and the defense held Symmes Valley to a meager three points as the lead grew to 74-20.

Matt Owens had eight points and Seth Saunders seven to lead the Vikings, 1-7.

Next up for Chesapeake is Ironton on Friday.

“We have some other areas we need to improve on and we need to do it soon. We have some tough games coming up,” Persin said.

Sym. Valley611311=31

Chesapeake18302611=85

SYMMES VALLEY (3-3): Tyler Smith 0 1 0-0 3, Kirt Shipley 0 1 0-0 3, Seth Saunders 3 0 1-2 7, Kyle Meadows 1 0 3-4 5, Justin Wiseman 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Owens 2 1 1-1 8, Michael Humphreys 2 0 1-5 5, Alex Burnett 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-50 3 6-9 31. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (6-0): Zach Morrison 4 0 0-1 8, Aaron Ross 1 0 0-1 2, Mike Stapleton 2 0 0-1 4, Caleb McComas 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Rase 1 0 0-0 2 Tyler Shoemaker 4 2 2-4 16, Justin Porter 4 0 0-0 8, P.J. Rase 2 4 0-0 18, Jeffrey Thornburg 2 0 2-3 6, Kyle Fuller 0 1 0-0 3, Jonathan Green 1 0 0-0 2, Brent Ransbottom 8 0 0-0 16. Totals: 36-72

7

4-10

85. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 44 (Ransbottom 12, Morrison 6). Steals: 8 (Shoemaker 3). Assists: 15 (Thornburg 3, P.J. Rase 3). Turnovers: 15.