It was country singer Crystal Gayle who once sang, “Don’t Take Me Half The Way.”

That’s what the Chesapeake Panthers did Tuesday, but half was good enough to get them through the whole game as they held off the South Point Pointers 51-44 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Chesapeake led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter before their offense disappeared.

“We played really well early. We defended well. We played well halfway through the game,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

“We got a big lead and then just shut it down. We started to play not to lose.”

The Panthers’ Nathan Copley scored with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter and then Chesapeake went nearly eight minutes before Kyle Webb made a layup in the fourth quarter.

Webb’s basket was the only Chesapeake field goal in the fourth quarter and the Panthers were just 3-of-9 at the foul line.

Fortunately, the defense kept the Pointers from exploding. Guard Peter Hintz cooled off South Point’s hot-shooting Chase Kratzenberg who was coming off games of 24, 24 and 25 points. Kratzenberg finished with 10 points.

“Hintz did a good job on Kratzenberg. He only had four points in the first half,” said Davis.

Webb — who has been on a scoring spree of his own with 32 an 29 points in his last two games — looked like he was going to have another big night as he scored nine points in the first quarter.

Matt Angle added six of his seven points in the first quarter as Chesapeake took a 19-12 lead.

Copley scored 13 points including three 3-pointers as the Panthers build a 37-21 halftime cushion.

Drew Lynd and Kratzenberg scored six points each in the second half, but the Panthers were able to hang on to win and open up a two-game lead in the OVC race.

Copley finished with 19 points and Webb scored 14. Trent Saunders added eight points and 10 rebounds.

Lynd topped South Point (4-4, 1-3) with 12 points while Jordan Fletcher and Kratzenberg had 10 each.

South Point 12 9 13 10 = 44

Chesapeake 19 18 9 5 = 51

SOUTH POINT (4-4, 1-3): Chase Kratzenberg 4 0 2-2 10, Jordan Fletcher 5 0 0-2 10, Matt Button 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Winkler 1 1 0-0 5, Drew Lynd 6 0 0-0 12, Ethan Prater 0 0 0-2 0, Cody Taylor 2 0 1-2 5, Greg Taylor 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19 1 3-8 44. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Lynd, C. Taylor.

CHESAPEAKE (6-2, 4-0): Peter Hintz 1 0 0-0 2, Nathan Copley 3 4 1-2 19, Matt Angle 3 0 1-3 7, Colton Lindsey 0 0 0-2 0, Kyle Webb 1 3 3-6 14, Trent Saunders 3 0 2-4 8, Travis Zimmerman 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 11 7 8-19 51. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.