Tough, physical play sparks Panthers to key win over rival Dragons

CHESAPEAKE — Tough, physical play was the name of the game for the Chesapeake Panthers, as they controlled the paint and took control of the second half to post a 70-57 win over the Fairland Dragons in a key Ohio Valley Conference game on Monday night.

"I thought we battled. I thought we made some physical, mature plays in the second half," said Chesapeake coach Steven Ater. "We were able to continue to pound it inside, play inside out."

The win was a big one for Chesapeake (8-1, 3-1 OVC), as the Panthers earned both a win over their rival and take sole possession of second place as conference play begins the heat up.

Last season, the Dragons were able to take both games in a 5-day span to claim the league title.

And with those losses still embedded in the mind of players like Maddox Kazee, it was easy to see why the win meant a lot.

"This win means a lot," said Kazee. "Just the community coming out to support us. The students here, we had so many people here wearing purple and that mean the most. We're just playing for each other."

Despite being held down the first half, Kazee caught fire in the second half to finish with a double-double, scoring 25 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists.

Kaden Perkins added 15 points and 5 rebounds. Karsen Frecka had 11 points and Jon-Cooper Barker had 10 to headline the scoring for the Panthers.

For Fairland, they were led on the scoresheet by Trevor Lochow with 22 points. Cliff Franzen netted 12 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and 3 assists, and Gerald Love scored 11.

A key to the Panthers success on the defensive end came from the play of Perkins, Kazee and Thacker. The trio had nearly all the teams' rebounds in the game and helped to keep Fairland's high-octane offense off-balanced.

Thacker was tasked with locking down the hot-shooting Franzen, which was task that Ater felt the senior perfect match-up to stop Fairland's top scorer.

"Thacker's physicality and athleticism, it's a nightmare for other teams. Franzen has great length. Phillip did a great job. He bodied him, was physical, contested shots up high. But didn't do it out of control and also kept him off the glass."

Thacker said he was just doing what was asked of him.

"My responsibility was to just do the dirty work, muck everything up and be physical with Franzen. We knew he was a great scorer and when he gets to his spots, he's good. So it was my job to not let him get there."

The Panthers started to take control of the game midway through the third, with Kazee scoring 10 of the teams' 21 points in the frame.

After the Dragons cut the deficit down to 38-34 following a pair of free throws from Lochow, Andy Chapman made a huge contribution with a 3-point play underneath and Kazee scored on a drive down the baseline to highlight the third quarter run by the Panthers.

"I thought (Kazee) and (Perkins) made corrections at halftime and started playing," said Ater. "I thought Perkins dominated by guarding the ball and running the offense. (Kazee) stepped up and scoring and getting to the rim."

Afterwards, Kazee said the halftime talk was about just getting rhythm on offense, but also keep up the pressure on defense.

"At the break, coach comes in and, was like, we have to get going on the offensive end. If we keep playing defense like we are, it'll force them into long shots and makes us rebound and we can the ball out and run."

The Dragons made a big push right from the opening tip off with their first three scores of the night being 3-point goals by Gerald Love, Trevor Lochow and Ford Rickard.

Then Lochow sank a fadeaway jumper from the baseline, Fairland a 11-4 lead at the 3:30 mark of the opening quarter.

But the momentum and lead wouldn't last for long, with the Panthers responding with a 13-2 run to end the quarter to take the lead.

The scoring run was aided by a pair of treys from Kaden Perkins and 2 buckets inside by Karson Frecka to help make it 17-16 after one.

The momentum carried over into the second quarter as the Panthers built their lead up to 21-16 following another layup from Frecka .

Fairland would answer with a run of their own to draw even at 22-all when Franzen drained a mid-range jumper with 3:26 remaining before halftime.

An answering score by Frecka on the other end would give the Panthers a lead they would not surrender the rest of the way.

Fairland 16   12   10   19  =  57

Chesapeake 17 14   21   18  =  70

FAIRLAND (5-3, 2-2): Ford Rickard 0 1 1-2 4, Trevor Lochow 6 2 4-4 22, Kinyon Smith 1 1 1-2 6, Cliff Fransen 5 0 2-4 12, Stephen Jones 0 1 0-0 2, Gerald Love 1 3 0-0 11, Maddox Gue 0 0 0-0 0, Owen Burcham 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 7 8-12 57. 3-pt goals: 16-26. Rebounds: (O-6, D-18) 24 (Fransen 14, Gue 5, Burcham 4). Assists: 8 (Fransen 3, Gue 2). Steals: 2 (Smith, Fransen). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Lochow (4th, 0:55).

CHESAPEAKE 70 (8-1, 3-1): Jon Cooper-Barker 2 1 3-4 10, Andrew Isaacs 0 0 0 0-0, Kaden Perkins 2 2 5-5 15, Dennis Scarberry 0 0 0-0 0, Maddox Kazee 8 1 6-9 25, Philip Thacker 2 0 1-2 5, Karson Frecka 5 0 1-4 11, Andy Chapman 1 0 2-3 4; Total: 20 4 18-27 70. 3-pt goals: 4-10. Rebounds: (O-6, D-20) 26 (Kazee 10, Thacker 7, Perkins 5). Assists: 4 (Kazee 3, Thacker). Steals: 6 (Kazee 3, Thacker 2). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Frecka (4th, 3:27).