Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

CHESAPEAKE — Let’s settle this quickly.
The Chesapeake Panthers raced to a big first quarter lead and went on to beat the Coal Grove Hornets 64-44 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.
The Panthers remained unbeaten as they took a 17-3 first quarter lead and improved to 7-0 on the season and 3-0 in the league.
Levi Blankenship scored 8 points and Ethan Taylor had 7 points as Chesapeake took the early lead.
Coal Grove’s only points came on a 3-pointer by Peyton Smith.
Smith hit two more 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the second quarter as Coal Grove slice a couple of points off the lead and it was 31-19.
Nathan Cox and Blankenship had 5 points each and Travis Grim got 4 points for the Panthers.
Chesapeake got going again in the third quarter and extended the lead to 49-30. Taylor hit a 3-pointer and scored 7 points with Trent Darth and Blankenship getting 4 points each.
Evan Gannon had 5 points including a triple for the Hornets.
Josh Cox got all 5 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Panthers who outscored Coal Grove 15-14.
Six different players scored for the Hornets led by Gannon with 4.
Chesapeake plays at Ironton on Saturday night. On Tuesday, Coal Grove host Ironton and Chesapeake goes to Fairland for a first-place showdown in the league.
Coal Grove 3 16 11 14 = 44
Chesapeake 17 14 18 15 = 64
COAL GROVE (3-4, 2-2): Perry Kingery 1 0 1-2 3, Evan Gannon 3 1 2-2 11, Peyton Smith 1 3 4-4 15, Trevor Hankins 1 1 0-0 5, Tait Matney 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Ferguson 0 0 0-0 0, Malachi Wheeler 2 0 0-0 4, Jarren Hicks 1 0 0-0 2, Trey Hunt 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Short 0 0 2-2 2, Trevor Carey 1 0 0-1 2. Totals: 10 5 9-11 44. Fouls: 18. Smith.
CHESAPEAKE (7-0, 3-0): Travis 2 0 3-4 7, Nathan Cox 5 0 1-2 11, Levi Blankenship 7 1 2-2 19, Dilen Caldwell 0 0 2-2 2, Austin Jackson 0 0 0-2 0, Trent Dearth 2 0 2-3 6, Josh Cox 2 0 1-1 5, Ethan Taylor 4 1 3-4 14, Jacob Lemley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 2 14-20 64. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.