By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

CHESAPEAKE — There hasn’t been much of a problem scoring points this season for the Chesapeake Panthers.

Friday night they decided to show they weren’t just one-dimensional.

Using a strong defensive effort and a dominating rebounding effort the Panthers routed the South Point Pointers 72-34 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Chesapeake’s defense smothered the Pointers’ guard-oriented offense and held a 56-23 rebound advantage.

“They’re a great shooting team. We had to make sure we were in good defensive position,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis. “We guarded well. We did a great job on the boards. We were physical with them.”

Chesapeake’s defensive position limited South Point to a mere 12 of 47 from the field for 25.5 percent and a woeful one of 16 from behind the arc.

“We haven’t shot like that all year. We even missed a lot of open shots,” said Pointers’ coach Chris Barnes. “Chesapeake might be better than they were last year. We have no chance of beating them shooting like that.”

Usually the Panthers (6-0, 2-0) are led by the trio of Nathan Copley, Austin McMaster and Colin Kennedy on offense. But this time they showed balance as Kennedy scored 15 points, Brandon Noble came off the bench to score 13, and Patrick Hintz and McMaster had 10 points each.

Copley finished with eight points to go with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kennedy had 10 rebounds while McMaster and Noble had seven apiece.

South Point (3-5, 1-2) was led by Blake Barnes with 13 points and Brandon Barnes with nine.

Javon Thompson scored the first basket of the game to put the Panthers up 2-0, but Blake Barnes hit a 12-footer to tie the score with 6:01 on the clock.

Thompson came right back with a 3-pointer and Chesapeake went on a 14-0 run to end the quarter for a 16-2 lead.

South Point didn’t score again until Blake Barnes hit the second of two foul shots with 7:19 on the clock at the start of the second quarter.

The Panthers continued to dominate the game as they built a 32-7 lead after a layup by Copley with 1:01 left in the half.

Brandon Barnes hit a triple with 24 seconds left but McMaster sank the first of two free throws with 1.9 seconds left and Hintz rebounded the missed second shot for a putback at the buzzer and it was 35-10 at the break.

“Offensively we were a little off tonight, but we tell them if they don’t score it doesn’t matter. Our focus was there,” said Davis.

The Panthers continued to build on their lead in the second half. They held their biggest lead at 68-28 with 3:54 to play on a layup by Noble.

South Point 2 8 10 14 = 34

Chesapeake 16 19 21 16 = 72

SOUTH POINT (3-5, 1-2): Tevin Mitchell 2 0 1-2 5, Blake Barnes 4 0 5-10 13, Kyle Winkler 1 0 0-3 2, Brandon Barnes 2 1 2-4 9, Zane Huron 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Jeffreys 1 0 1-2 3, Mike Leighty 1 0 0-0 2, Tre Campbell 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-47 9-21 34. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 1-16. Rebounds: 8 offense, 15 defense = 23 (Winkler 7, Br. Barnes 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 3 (Mitchell 2). Steals: 8 (Bl. Barnes 2, Winkler 2, Leighty 2). Turnovers: 13.

CHESAPEAKE (6-0, 2-0): Nathan Copley 4 0 0-1 8, Patrick Hintz 2 2 0-0 10, Javon Thompson 2 1 0-0 7, Austin McMaster 4 0 2-3 10, Colin Kennedy 4 0 7-9 15, Eric Kennedy 2 0 1-2 5, Brandon Noble 6 0 1-2 13, Nate Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Nick Duffield 1 0 2-2 4, Seth Skeens 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-60 13-19 72. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: C. Kennedy (4th 6:10). 3-point goals: 3-12. Rebounds: 21 offense, 35 defense = 56 (C. Kennedy 10, Copley 9, Noble 7, McMaster 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Assists: 10 (Copley 3). Steals: 8 (McMaster 2, Copley 2, Hintz 2). Turnovers: 14.