Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — It was a showdown for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, so the Fairland Dragons put on a show.

The Dragons had five players in double figures en route to a 72-61 win over the Chesapeake Panthers on Friday.

Kollin Van Horn led the Dragons (9-2, 7-0) with a double-double as he scored 22 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.

Luke Thomas scored 15 points, Ty Staten had 14 points, seven assists and four steals, Isaiah Howell added 11 points and eight rebounds and Gunner Short scored 10 points.

“It was a good team win. We shared the ball and we played good team defense for the most part,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.

With the win, Fairland improved its lead in the OVC to two games over Chesapeake and Portsmouth.

Gage Rhoades virtually carried the Panthers offensively with a game-high 27 points as he made 10-19 from the field including 5-of-10 from behind the arc. He also had six rebounds.

Brad Meadows added 10 points and four rebounds for the Panthers (10-3, 5-2).

Fairland led 10-7 with 3:08 left in the first quarter. With Van Horn scoring 10 points in the quarter, the Dragons went on a 10-0 run to lead 20-7 at the end of the quarter.

Chesapeake got within 31-26 with 1:26 to go in the half before falling behind 35-26 at the break.

A 3-pointer by Shot had the Dragons up 38-26 to begin the second half, but Rhoades hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 12 points in a 16-4 run and the Panthers got within 48-47 at the end of the quarter.

“We lost Gage a few times and didn’t get our defense rotated and he took advantage of it. I don’t know if it would have matter a lot of the time,” said Speed.

“Gage is such a good player. He’s capable of going off like that any time he plays.”.

While Rhoades scored eight more points in the fourth quarter and a Casey McComas’ basket had the Panthers down 50-49 with 7:21 left in the game.

But Van Horn made two straight baskets as the Dragons began to pull away to force the Panthers to foul.

Fairland went 11-of-12 from the line in the quarter with Thomas going 6-of-6 and State 3-of-4.

Fairland shot 27-of-56 from the field for 48 percent. Chesapeake was 22-of-51 for 43 percent.

On Tuesday, Chesapeake visits Gallipolis and Fairland travels to Rock Hill in league games.

Chesapeake 7 19 21 14 = 61

Fairland 20 15 13 24 = 72

CHESAPEAKE (10-3, 5-2): Austin Hutchison 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Stevens 0-3 1-3 3-4 6, Casey McComas 1-2 1-1 0-0 5, Kolton Webb 1-4 1-7 2-4 7, Gage Rhoades 5-9 5-10 2-2 27, Brad Meadows 4-7 0-0 2-4 10, Wesley Stephens 3-3 0-0 0-0 6. Totals: 22-51 9-14 61. 3-point goals: 8-22. Rebounds: 21 (Rhoades 6, Meadows 4). Assists: 6. Steals: 3. Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Webb.

FAIRLAND (9-2, 7-0): Ty Staten 5-8 0-1 4-7 14, Isaiah Howell 4-7 1-3 0-2 11, Hunter Ashton 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Kollin Van Horn 10-14 0-0 2-3 22, Keedrick Cunningham 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Thomas 3-5 1-7 6-6 15, Hayden James 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Gunner Short 1-2 2-4 2-4 10. Totals: 27-56 14-22 72. 3-point goals: 4-16. Rebounds: 39 (Van Horn 16, Howell 8). Assists: 15 (Staten 7). Steals: 7 (Staten 4). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

 

Ohio Valley Conference

Boys’ Basketball Standings

OVC All

W L W L

Fairland 7 0 9 2

Chesapeake 5 2 10 3

Portsmouth 3 2 6 5

South Point 4 3 4 7

Ironton 3 3 6 6

Gallipolis 3 5 4 7

Coal Grove 2 6 4 8

Rock Hill 0 6 0 12

Girls’ Basketball Standings

OVC All

W L W L

Ironton 10 0 14 0

Fairland 7 2 11 2

Chesapeake 6 3 11 3

Rock Hill 5 4 8 5

South Point 4 5 7 6

Coal Grove 2 7 4 10

Gallipolis 2 7 2 10

Portsmouth 1 9 2 12

Through Friday’s Games