ATHENS – Murphy’s Law was in effect.

Sunday, March 12, 2000

ATHENS – Murphy’s Law was in effect. Just when it looked like the Chesapeake Panthers were on their way to the regional semifinals, everything around them began to go wrong.

Leading 53-42 with 2:42 left in the game the Panthers had to feel good about their chances, but the Wheelersburg Pirates staged an amazing comeback and pulled out a 59-56 win Saturday night to claim the Division III Southeast District Championship at Ohio University.

"Everything went wrong down the stretch," Chesapeake coach Norm Persin said. "They hit the shot you don’t want the kid taking, and we missed six free throws the fourth quarter. Every one of them rimmed out."

The shot Persin was referring to was a 3-pointer by Andy Gill with 52 seconds to play that gave Wheelersburg a 57-55 lead.

Anthony Delimpo hit the first of two free throws to get Chesapeake within a point and Josh Waugh rebounded the missed shot to give the Panthers new life.

Chesapeake played for the winning shot but a charging call with two seconds left gave the ball back to the Pirates.

Jason Schmidt was fouled on the inbounds play and made both free throws with 1.8 seconds to play to make it 59-56.

Chesapeake was unable to get off a final shot and the Pirates advanced.

The Pirates comeback began on a layup by Schmidt to trigger a 12-1 run. Brian Yelley came up with a steal and layup at the 1:26 mark to make it 54-52 and Schmidt sank two foul shots with 1:09 left to tie the game.

Andy Clark made a free throw six seconds later that put Chesapeake ahead, but the Gill hit his big shot to put Wheelersburg ahead for good.

"The steal is what swung the momentum," Pirates coach Tom Barrick said. "Say all you want about coaching but the kids stepped up and made the plays.

"The biggest thing we told our kids was to find a way to get the clock stopped and try to get the ball to the rack and get free throws."

The strategy worked as the Pirates made five of six free throws and four layups in their comeback run.

Schmidt had 13 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.

"Schmidt beat us by himself," said Persin whose team was playing without starter Zeb Best who is suffering from a sprained knee.

But Persin did not use Best’s injury as an excuse.

"Waugh played a great game, he did what he had to do. We got hurt when he got his fourth foul, that’s when we got beat on the boards."

Wheelersburg (20-4) outrebounded Chesapeake 32-17 for the game.

"We were able to get the game down to one possession and you have to like your chances when you get to one possession," said Barrick.

Wheelersburg will now play Canal Winchester in the regionals at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 16 at Ohio University. Regional finals are 3 p.m. Saturday.

The game was tied on seven different occasions and the lead exchanged hands eight times.

Chesapeake’s biggest lead was 11 points while the Pirates largest lead was the final score.

Delimpo led the Panthers with 17 points and eight rebounds. Bobby Barbour added 13 and Waugh had nine.