By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

BIDWELL — The Chesapeake Panthers may not have been clicking, but they were certainly making some noise.

Despite a rollercoaster-like performance, the Panthers remained unbeaten in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 75-56 win over the River Valley Raiders on Tuesday.

“We played well in spurts. We never had all five (players) clicking at the same time,” said Chesapeake coach Ryan Davis.

Chesapeake is now 8-1 overall and the only unbeaten team in the OVC at 4-0.

Austin McMaster scored 21 points to lead a balanced Chesapeake offense. Patrick Hintz scored 14, Javon Thompson 11, Eric Kennedy 10 and Brandon Noble 8.

Ethan Dovenbarger scored 14 points to lead Rive Valley (1-8, 0-4).

Kennedy — who got into early foul trouble — scored 7 points and McMaster had 9 as the Panthers grabbed a 23-15 first quarter lead.

Noble had 5 points in the second quarter to match 5 by the Raiders’ Austin Lewis and the Panthers pulled away to a 38-24 halftime lead.

The scoring was slow in the third quarter and Hintz had 4 of Chesapeake’s 12 as the lead went to 50-32.

McMaster had 10 points in the fourth quarter to offset 10 by Dovenbarger as the Panthers outscored the Raiders 25-24.

“River Valley played hard. They battled the whole game,” said Davis.

The Panthers host Rock Hill on Friday and the third annual Beast of the Southeast on Saturday.

Chesapeake 23 15 12 25 = 75

River Valley 15 9 8 24 = 56

CHESAPEAKE (8-1, 4-0): Taylor Banaei 0 1 0-0 3, Patrick Hintz 5 0 4-6 14, Eric Kennedy 1 2 2-2 10, Brandon Noble 2 0 4-4 8, Shane Stevens 1 0 0-0 2, Javon Thompson 4 1 0-0 11, Austin McMaster 6 2 3-3 21, Chad Meadows 3 0 0-2 6. Totals: 22 6 13-17 75. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Kennedy (4th 7:16). Rebounds: 17-17=34. Turnovers: 11.

RIVER VALLEY (1-8, 0-4): Derek Flint 2 1 0-0 7, Kyle Bays 0 0 2-2 2, Chris Clemente 2 0 0-0 4, Trey Noble 4 0 0-0 8, Aaron Harrison 3 0 3-4 9, Joseph Lloyd 2 0 0-0 4, Austin Lewis 2 0 4-8 8, Ethan Dovenbarger 5 0 4-7 14. Totals: 20 1 13-21 56. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 3-19=22. Turnovers: 19.