The Panthers were rude to their hosts as they crushed the Fighting Irish 96-54 Wednesday in the semifinals of the Huntington St.

Thursday, January 27, 2000

The Panthers were rude to their hosts as they crushed the Fighting Irish 96-54 Wednesday in the semifinals of the Huntington St. Joe Invitational held at Memorial Field House.

"We played awfully well," Panthers coach Norm Persin said. "You never know how well you’ll play in this type of setting and environment. Other than a few spots, we shot the ball well and we defended well."

Chesapeake, 12-1 and ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press Division III poll, will face Tolsia at 9 p.m. Friday in the championship game.

The matchup will be a rematch of an earlier regular season game won by the Panthers.

Fairland and Huntington St. Joe tangle at 7 p.m. in the consolation game.

Chesapeake was led by Anthony Delimpo with 20 points and Zeb Best who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Bobby Barbour reached double figures again with 16 points.

St. Joe (3-10) was paced by Josh Gursky with 18 points. Chad Lake and Ryan Cole added 10 each.

The game was settled early. Chesapeake dashed to a 33-10 first quarter lead.

"We played well the first quarter and got the big lead, but we kind of lost our intensity and our defense let down a little in the second quarter," Persin said. "And Gursky shot the ball pretty good for them. But we challenged them and they played a lot better the second half.

"We got some easy baskets early and that loosened us up. Once we got relaxed, we started shooting the ball well. We’ve been shooting the ball well as a team."

Gursky had 10 of his points the second quarter as St. Joe outscored the Panthers 25-21, but it wasn’t near enough to erase the huge deficit and the lead was 54-35 at the break.

The defense stepped it back up the third quarter and limited the Irish to a meager four points as the Panthers extended their cushion to 77-39.

It was Chesapeake’s second win over St. Joe this season.

The Panthers beat the Irish two weeks ago in a game at Chesapeake, 67-45.

CHESAPEAKE – 33 21 23 19 – 96: Bobby Barbour 16, Andy Clark 8, Justin Saunders 2, Zeb Best 17, Anthony Delimpo 20, Adam Webb 6, Adam Pemberton 7, Josh Waugh 4, Matt Miller 5, Abe Huff 5, Matt White 6.

HUNTINGTON ST. JOE – 10 25 4 15 – 54: Josh Gursky 18, Ryan Cole 10, Chris Evans 4, Chad Lake 10, Seth Blatt 5, Johnston 3, Martin Cherry 4.