CHESAPEAKE — The name of the game isn’t basketball. It’s defense.

The key to winning in any sport is defense and the Chesapeake Panthers proved that Tuesday with a 60-35 win over the Coal Grove Hornets in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

The Panthers limited the Hornets to just 28 shots and just 11 field goals as they improved to 3-7 and 1-3 in the OVC.

“They played good halfcourt defense and they were ready to play. We forced them to shoot some shots early they couldn’t hit, but we couldn’t hit our shots either,” Hornets coach Mike Waller said.

“We played pretty good defense, but they just had a lot of speed and quickness.”

Mike Stapleton had 12 points and 5 rebounds while Kyle Rase got 11 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds to lead the Panthers.

Adam Bare had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets (0-11, 0-4).

Aaron Ross had 7 points in the first quarter as Chesapeake took a 15-6 lead.

Bare had 5 points in the second quarter but the Panthers continued to pull away to a 29-16 halftime lead.

Chesapeake outscored Coal Grove 21-8 in the third quarter and the cushion was 50-24.

Coal Grove610811=35

Chesapeake15142110=60

COAL GROVE (0-11, 0-4): Simon Hall 0 0 1-2 1, Zach Murphy 2 1 1-1 8, Chris Dirling 0 0 2-2 2, Eric Davidson 0 0 0-4 0, Austin Willis 1 1 0-0 5, Jacob Browning 1 0 1-2 3, Tyler Branch 2 0 1-3 5, Adam Bare 3 0 5-7 11. Totals: 11-27

(2)

11-21

35. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 23 (Bare 11, Hall 4). Assists: 5. Turnovers: 19.

CHESAPEAKE (3-7, 1-3): Brian Ross 1 0 0-0 2, Aaron Ross 3 1 0-0 9, Mike Stapleton 6 0 0-0 12, Marty Clay 1 1 0-0 5, Matt Angle 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Rase 3 1 2-2 11, Laurent Alexandre 0 0 0-2 0, Aaron Donohoe 2 0 3-3 7, Kyle Webb 2 0 0-0 4, Jonathan Greene 4 0 0-0 8, Jeremy Reaper 1 0 0-0 2, Travis Zimmerman 0 0 0-0 0, Joe Riley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-54 (3)

5-7

60. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-16=25 (Rase 6, Stapleton 5). Assists: 12. (Rase 6). Steals: 12 (Clay 3, Stapleton 3). Turnovers: 10.