ATHENS — This wasn’t the Chesapeake Panthers team that fans were used to seeing the previous 24 games.
The Panthers didn’t dominate the boards and turned the ball over a season-high 17 times in a 59-46 loss to the Portsmouth Trojans on Saturday in the Division III district finals.

“If I knew what was wrong, I would have fixed it. There wasn’t a lot of variation we could have done. Rebounding was not great,” said Panthers’ coach Ryan Davis.

“The first half defense was all right, then we came out the second half and it’s hard from keeping (Ky’re Allison) from getting in the paint, but you have to try and take away him going left. He’s pretty good. And with Nate (Smith) with three fouls ­­— you have to have him guarding (Allison),” said Davis.

Portsmouth (19-6) advances to the regional semifinals at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Ohio University’s Convocation Center to face Ironton.

“I never dreamed we’d win 22,” said Davis whose team finished 22-3.

Chesapeake started cold, failing to hit any of its six shots in the first quarter including two 3-point attempts.

Portsmouth took advantage of the situation and led 6-1, but the Trojans were only 3-10 in the second quarter and the Panthers caught fire.

Gage Rhoades hit a 3-pointer to start the quarter as he went on to score 10 points in the quarter.
Rhoades made a layup to tie the game at 8-8 with 5:15 left in the half and Kolton Webb knocked down a 3-ball at the 4:41 mark as the Panthers took an 11-8 lead.

Rhoades hit another trifecta and Austin Carpenter had a layup for a 16-13 lead.

A putback by Kendall Reynolds got the Trojans within 16-15 but Webb drained another 3-pointer with 1:15 on the clock.

Reynolds made a baseline jumper with five seconds left and Portsmouth was within 19-17 at the half.
Chesapeake came out the second half and worked the ball inside against the extended Portsmouth defense and took a 23-19 lead after layups by Brad Meadows and Aaron Thompson.

But the Trojans got the hot hand on the outside in the name of Ethan Leonard who hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 25-23 lead at the 5:24 mark.

“The first half we got stretched out to crazy places that weren’t good for us. We got that corralled a little bit, but the second half was bad,” said Davis. “We gave up five to start the second half and we haven’t got the ball back.”

Allison converted a three-point play before a foul shot by the Panthers’ Jake Stevens at the 4:44 mark stopped the run and it was 28-24.

A steal and layup by Reynolds opened up a 31-24 lead. Two foul shots by Allison and Portsmouth led 37-27 with 1:42 one the clock.

Rhoades hit another trey and Allison a foul shot to close the quarter and it was 38-30.

The Trojans were 7-of-9 from the field in the third quarter.

A 15-footer by Allison to begin the fourth quarter made it 40-27 and a 3-point play by Sky Oliver gave Portsmouth its biggest lead to date at 43-30 with 7:21 to play.

Rhoades hit a triple to get the deficit within 10 and a 3-pointer by Webb sliced the spread to 50-42 with 2:46 left.

Oliver’s two foul shots put the lead back at 10 with 2:28 to go and the Panthers could get no closer.
Rhoades finished with 22 points including four 3-pointers for the Panthers. Rhoades and Webb both had four rebounds.

Allison and Reynolds had 19 points each and Leonard added 13. Alex Dickerson and Allison had six rebounds apiece.

Portsmouth 6 11 21 21 = 59
Chesapeake 1 18 11 16 = 46

PORTSMOUTH (19-6): Sky Oliver 1 0 6-7 8, Ethan Leonard 2 3 0-0 13, Ky’re Allison 6 0 7-11 19, Alex Dickerson 0 0 0-0 0, Kendall Reynolds 7 0 5-6 19, Luke Purdy 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Lowery 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Gibson 0 0 0-0 0, J.J. Josey 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Delotell 0 0 0-0 0, Micah Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Sturgill 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-35 18-24 59. 3-point goals: 3-8. Rebounds: 5-off. 16-def. = 21 (Dickerson 6, Allison 6). Team rebounds: 1. Assists: 7 (Allison 4, Oliver 2). Steals: 14 (Reynolds 8, Oliver 4). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (22-3): Kolton Webb 0 2 0-0 6, Nate Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Gage Rhoades 5 4 0-0 22, Brad Meadows 3 0 0-0 6, Aaron Thompson 3 0 0-0 6, Jake Stevens 0 1 1-2 4, Austin Carpenter 1 0 1-2 3, Casey McComas 0 0 0-0 0, Cecil Fletcher 0 0 0-0 0, David Dotson 0 0 0-0 0, Wes Stephens 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Hutchison 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-45 3-8 46. 3-point goals: 7-13. Rebound: 13-off. 12-def. = 25 (Rhoades 4, Webb 4). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 5 (Smith 2). Steals: 5 (Smith 2). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.