By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

CHESAPEAKE — With the Chesapeake Panthers, it’s only a matter of time.

The Russell Red Devils trailed just 25-22 at the half, but there was a sense that the Panthers were on the verge of jump-starting their offense.

They did.

The Panthers outscored the Red Devils 50-27 in the second half and rolled to a 75-48 win on Saturday in the third annual Beast of the Southeast.

“We played well. We kept them at 21 points the first half. We just told them to keep playing and we’d get the offense going,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

“We missed easy shots over and over. It was just a matter of time before the shots would start falling.”

And fall they did.

After making 11 of 29 shots in the first half for 38 percent, the Panthers hit 19 of 27 floor shots in the second half for 70 percent. They were 8 of 19 from behind the arc including 7 of 12 in the second half.

Austin McMaster led the Panthers (10-1) with a game-high 23 points. Javon Thompson had 16 points and 7 rebounds while Patrick Hintz scored 13 and Eric Kennedy 12.

“Javon did a good job of taking care of the ball, scoring and rebounding,” said Davis. “Austin played well, too. He had 15 of his points in the second half to help get us going.”

Kyle Skaggs scored 21 for Russell (10-8).

McMaster had 5 points in the first quarter as Chesapeake took a 13-8 lead.

Skaggs scored 8 in the second quarter and Russell was down by three at the half.

Hintz scored 7 in the third quarter as Chesapeake outscored Russell 28-9 to take a 53-30 lead.

McMaster hit a pair of 3-pointers to begin the fourth quarter and scored 8 points in the quarter as Chesapeake blew the game wide-open.

Russell 8 13 9 18 = 48

Chesapeake 13 12 28 22 = 75

RUSSELL (10-8): Hunter Couchot 1 0 0-0 2, Googie Hayes 0 0 1-2 1, Logan Dehoff 1 0 1-2 3, Jacob Porter 1 1 0-0 5, Kyle Skaggs 6 1 6-6 21, Tyler Parsley 3 0 0-0 6, Jacob Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Luke Bailey 3 0 2-58. Totals: 18-53 10-15 48. Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (10-1): Patrick Hintz 3 2 1-2 13, Caleb Lindsey 0 0 0-0 0, Eric Kennedy 4 0 4-4 12, Brandon Noble 4 0 1-1 9, Shane Stephens 0 0 0-0 0, Javon Thompson 2 4 0-0 16, Austin McMaster 8 2 1-2 23, Chad Meadows 1 0 0-1 2, Taylor Banaei 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Smith 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-56 7-10 75. 3-point goals: 8-19. Rebounds: 30 (Thompson 7). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.