Rebounding, defense spark Panthers’ win

Published 12:57 am Sunday, January 16, 2011

By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

CHESAPEAKE — When you play the Chesapeake Panthers, chances are you won’t get “board.”

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But the Panthers will.

Chesapeake used its size to limit River Valley to just three offensive rebounds and the Panthers had five players in double figures in a 77-42 Ohio Valley Conference win Friday.

The Panthers outrebounded the Raiders 36-19 and the defense forced 22 turnovers.

“We’ve been doing a pretty decent job on the boards,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

Eric Kennedy came off the bench to score 16 points — half in the fourth quarter — to lead the Panthers who are still unbeaten at 8-0 and 3-0 in the OVC.

Austin McMaster scored 15 points, Nathan Copley 14, Colin Kennedy 13 and Patrick Hintz 10.

“We played like we had a little bit of a layoff,” said Davis of the Panthers’ first game in almost a week.

Chesapeake ran off the first 16 points of the game as McMaster scored eight points and it was 23-9.

Copley scored seven in the second quarter as the lead grew to 37-18 at the half.

Colin Kennedy had seven points in the third quarter and the Panthers’ cushion was now 59-28.

River Valley 9 9 10 14 = 42

Chesapeake 23 14 22 18 = 77

RIVER VALLEY (3-6, 1-2): Trey Noble 2 0 3-4 7, Aaron Harrison 2 0 0-0 4, Kyle Bryant 1 1 0-0 5, Austin Lewis 3 0 2-4 8, Dominique Peck 4 0 0-0 8, Derek Flint 2 0 1-2 5, Cody Smith 1 1 0-2 5. Totals: 15 2 6-10 42. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-6. Rebounds: 3 offense, 19 defense – 22. Turnovers: 22.

CHESAPEAKE (8-0, 3-0): Nathan Copley 5 1 1-2 14, Patrick Hintz 3 0 4-4 10, Eric Kennedy 5 2 0-0 16, Brandon Noble 0 0 1-2 1, Nate Jones 1 0 0-0 2, Javon Thompson 2 0 0-0 4, Austin McMaster 7 0 1-2 15, Seth Skeens 1 0 0-0 2, Colin Kennedy 4 0 5-6 13, Nick Duffield 0 0 0-0 0, Mike Walters 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Lindsey 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28 3 12-16 77. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 3-19. Rebounds: 13 offense, 23 defense = 36. Turnovers: 8.