After giving up 69 points in their first meeting, Chesapeake coach Ryan Davis knew his team had to play better defense.

They did.

The Panthers turned in one of their better defensive efforts of the season Friday as they beat the Fairland Dragons 47-44 to win the St. Joseph Invitational tournament.

“We did a good job defensively. It really wasn’t that the missed shots, we just did a better job,” said Davis.

Fairland coach John McClung agreed that Chesapeake did a good job defensively, but he said turnovers were a problem as well. His team was guilty of 10 in the second half to just three for the Panthers.

“We missed a lot of bunnies, but they were contested. Chesapeake just guarded us better. And we made too many turnovers in the second half,” said McClung.

Adam Berry scored six points in the first quarter to give Fairland a 16-11 lead. Zach Jordan then got a steal and hit a 3-pointer just before the end of the half that put the Dragons ahead 25-20.

But the Panthers held the Dragons to just five points in the third quarter as they rallied to tie the game at 30-30.

“We didn’t change a whole lot just, we just played a little hard and challenge (the players). We played well the first half, there were just little things went their way that made a difference. We could easily have had the lead,” said Davis.

The Panthers led by one in the fourth quarter when Nathan Copley hit a big 3-pointer to open up a four-point lead.

“We lost our energy. We held Copley in tact and he hit a three that put them up one point and their energy raised and ours didn’t,” said McClung.

Kyle Webb scored 17 points and Copley had 10 to lead the Panthers.

Jordan had 16 points and Berry 10 for the Dragons (8-5).

Davis said Chesapeake (8-3) needed the win for other reasons than just winning the SJI title.

“We just needed to win for sectional (tournament) time and for our confidence a little bit,” said Davis.

Fairland 16 9 5 14 = 44

Chesapeake 11 9 10 17 = 47

FAIRLAND (8-5): Zach Jordan 1 4 2-2 16, Matt Bloomfield 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Ward 3 0 0-0 6, Chad Fisher 0 0 0-0 0, Chad Staton 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Hatfield 2 0 2-4 6, Tyler Godby 2 0 0-0 4, Adam Berry 4 0 2-2 10, Evan Salyers 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 4 6-8 44. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (8-3): Peter Hintz 3 0 0-0 9, Nathan Copley 0 2 4-5 10, Kyle Webb 5 1 4-5 17, Trent Saunders 4 0 1-2 9, Travis Zimmerman 1 0 0-0 2, Colton Lindsey 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 4 9-12 47. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.