Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

ATHENS — Whatever Chesapeake didn’t do well, Gage Rhoades made up for it with what he did really well.

Score.

Rhoades had 27 points that included four 3-pointers as the Panthers held on to beat the Piketon Red Streaks 55-49 on Sunday in the Division III district semifinals at Ohio University.

Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis was concerned with Piketon’s long-range shooting and the Red Streaks made 8-of-18 attempts from behind the arc.

“You got to take away penetration from them. We did okay taking penetration from them off the dribble, but we didn’t do a good job knocking down cutters and stopping penetration off cuts,” said Davis.

“You’ve got to guard the 3-point line well against them which I don’t feel we did a great job of that, and then we’ve got to stop their transition and I think eventually we stopped their transition pretty well.”

Besides Rhoades, Nate Smith and Jake Stevens had nine points each and Aaron Thompson eight as only four players scored for the Panthers.

One key for the Panthers was rebounding. They held a 36-26 advantage on the glass. Brad Meadows pulled down 12 boards and Aaron Thompson grabbed 10 before fouling out with 2:19 to play.

“With two starters not giving any (offensive) numbers, that’s a pretty good job. We were able to give ourselves scoring opportunities and we capitalized on it,” said Davis. “Gage shot the ball really well and we did a good job on the boards.”

The first quarter was s shootout between Rhoades and Piketon’s Aaron Southworth.

Each player had a pair of 3-pointers with Rhoades scoring nine points and Southworth eight to leave the game tied at 11.

Rhoades continued his long-range bombing in the second quarter with another pair on 3-balls that came back-to-back and put the Panthers up 21-16 with 5:04 left in the half.

Stevens hit a 3-pointer at the 4:16 mark that gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the half at 24-16.

A layup by Tristan Veach made it 24-21 and his free throw with two seconds on the clock cut the Panthers’ lead to 25-22 at the half.

Piketon was 7-of-18 from the field in the first half and 5-of-8 at the line.

“The first half we didn’t do a lot of (giving up transition points) but we fouled and got them to the free throw line too often.”

Layups by Thompson and Rhoades opened up a 32-24 lead with 4:11 on the third quarter clock, but three foul shots by Wyatt Brewster and a triple by Casey Moore and it was 32-30.

Rhoades made two free throws and Chesapeake led 34-30 after three quarters.

The Panthers came out the fourth quarter and got two foul shots by Nate Smith but Brewster answered with a steal and layup for Piketon.

Rhoades hit a layup but Southworth’s 3-pointer cut the spread to 38-35.

Jake Stevens then hit a runner in the lane and the Panthers were up 40-35 with 4:34 left.

Two foul shots by Southworth got the Red Streaks within 41-37, but two foul shots by Thompson and a putback by Rhoades built a 45-37 lead with 2:42 to play.

Piketon wouldn’t go away as Zach Jordan and Cody Vulgamore each hit 3-pointers and the Panthers’ lead was 49-46 with 52 seconds left.

After two foul shots by Stevens, Vulgamore hit a long 3-pointer with 23 seconds to go and sliced the lead to 51-49.

But after a timeout, Chesapeake used a run-out play on the inbounds and Smith caught the long pass behind the defense for a layup and a 53-49 lead with 26 seconds on the clock.

Piketon missed on its next possession and Rhoades was fouled. He made both chances with eight seconds to go and sealed the win.

Chesapeake (22-2) will now play Portsmouth at 8 p.m. on Saturday in the district finals. The two teams split their regular season games.

Portsmouth downed Coal Grove 60-46 on Sunday.

Piketon 11 11 8 19 = 49

Chesapeake 11 14 9 21 = 55

PIKETON (15-9): Wyatt Brewster 2 0 5-10 9, Zach Jordan 0 1 0-0 3, Casey Moore 1 2 1-2 9, Tristan Veach 2 0 3-6 7, Aaron Southworth 0 3 2-2 11, Steven Zimmerman 0 0 0-0 0, Cody Vulgamore 0 2 0-0 6. Totals: 15-46 11-20 49. 3-point goals: 8-18. Rebounds: 12-off. 14-def. = 26 (Brewster 9, Veach 6). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 7 (Jordan 4). Steals: 7 (Veach 2, Brewster 2, Moore 2). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Moore (4th 1;12).

CHESAPEAKE (22-2): Kolton Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Smith 2 1 2-2 9, Gage Rhoades 5 4 5-7 27, Brad Meadows 0 0 0-2 0, Aaron Thompson 2 0 4-6 8, Austin Hutchison 0 0 0-0 0, Jake Stevens 1 1 4-6 9, Austin Carpenter 0 0 0-2 0. Totals: 17-40 15-25 55. 3-point goals: 6-14. Rebounds: 15-off. 21-def. = 36 (Meadows 12, Thompson 10). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 5 (Meadows 2). Steals: 6 (Carpenter 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Thompson (4th 2:19).