Chesy rolls to 11th straight OVC crown

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 3, 2006

PROCTORVILLE - There are streaks, and then there are streaks.

The Chesapeake Panthers won the Ohio Valley Conference basketball championship 11 seasons ago. Tuesday’s 81-29 spanking of the Fairland Dragons gave the Panthers another league title.

In fact, it was their 11th in a row.

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Chesapeake continued its amazing title run with the school 26th boys basketball championship in the league’s 52-year history.

“We just want to keep it going. Once you get so many, you want to keep winning. And it is a goal. If you’re in a conference, you want to win your conference,” said coach Norm Persin who has won 14 titles in his 21-year tenure at Chesapeake and 17 overall.

Chesapeake is now 15-2 overall and 8-0 in the league. Fairland, in second place, fell to 10-7 and 5-3 in the conference with just two league games remaining.

“It’s pretty remarkable what we’ve done. I don’t care what sport it is, to win 11 straight is quite an accomplishment. You don’t always have the best talent, but we’ve been fortunate to have kids who want to play their roles and win as a team.”

An example of the Panthers teamwork was having five players in double figures. Tyler Shoemaker scored 18 points, Justin Porter and P.J. Rase 14 points each, Jeffrey Thornburg 12 and Brent Ransbottom 11.

Adam Fuller hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead the Dragons with six points.

Rase had seven points in the first quarter and the defense limited the Dragons to five points to take a 17-5 lead.

Seven points by Shoemaker in the second quarter helped Chesapeake open up a 38-17 halftime cushion.

Ransbottom scored nine points and Thornburg eight in the third quarter as Chesapeake outscored Fairland 23-4 to take an insurmountable 61-21 lead.

The backups finished up the fourth quarter with Shoemaker scoring 11 points and Kyle Fuller five.

Chesapeake17212320=81

Fairland51248=29

CHESAPEAKE (15-2, 8-0): Zach Morrison 0 0 1-2 1, Mike Stapleton 2 0 0-0 4, Caleb McComas 1 0 0-0 2, Tyler Shoemaker 7 0 4-5 18, Justin Porter 6 0 2-2 14, P.J. Rase 4 2 0-0 14, Jeffrey Thornburg 3 2 0-0 12, Kyle Fuller 2 0 1-1 5, Brent Ransbottom 4 0 3-4 11. Totals: 29

4

11-14

81. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (10-7, 5-3): Kyle Wise 0 , Zach Jordan 1 0 2-2 4, Josh Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Adam Fuller 0 2 0-0 6, Rich Staggs 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Long 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Hatfield 2 0 1-1 5, J.B. Smith 1 0 1-2 3, Chris Barnett 0 1 1-2 4, Ethan Black 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Pemberton 0 0 2-2 2, Michael Lamb 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Burd 0 0 1-2 1, Dustin Bumgardner 1 0 0-1 2. Totals: 6

3

8-13

29. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.