Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

CHESAPEAKE — It was overcast on Tuesday night as the visiting Fairland Dragons took on the Chesapeake Panthers and it rained from three.
The two teams combined for 10 made 3-pointers in just the first quarter as Fairland professionalizes in a first quarter explosions and they led 25-15 after one en route to an 82-39 Ohio Valley Conference win.
Fairland’s Clayton Thomas hit a pair from deep in the first quarter along with Jacob Polcyn.
Polcyn led the Dragons in the opening quarter with 10 points.
The Panthers (4-3, 2-3) got a pair of 3-pointers each in the first from Travis Grim and Levi Blankenship trying to keep up with the Dragons’ shooting.
Grim, a senior guard, hit another pair of triples in the second quarter after a 7-2 run by the Dragons to start the period.
Chesapeake went into the break trailing 40-27 and what had begun as a shootout turned into a shutout in the second half.
“We wanted our focus to be on defense and I thought we had good communication defensively, talking more,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed and his team took it up a notch in the second half.
After seven made 3-pointers in the first half, Chesapeake was limited to zero in the second half and scored just 10 points.
As for the Dragons, Aiden Porter got going in the third with a couple 3-point field goals and an ‘and 1’ to finish the quarter with 13 points. Behind the big quarter from Porter, Fairland led big going into the fourth 64-35.
The JV players got some overtime in the fourth quarter to finish the game 82-39.
“We got back to being more fundamental tonight like rebounding and getting extra possessions for ourselves. Focus on being consistent with constant effort,” Speed finished with.
Fairland (6-3, 5-0) had big nights from their big three in Porter, Thomas, and Polcyn — Porter had a game high 27 points, Thomas tallied 12 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists, while Polcyn scored 15 points with 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
Grim led the way for Chesapeake with 16 points on a very efficient night from the field.
The Dragons will play Saturday night at 7:30 against Eastern Brown, and Chesapeake travels to Gallia Academy on Friday.
Fairland 25 15 24 18 = 82
Chesapeake 15 12 8 4 = 39
FAIRLAND (6-3, 5-0): Jacob Polcyn 3 3 0-0 15, Aiden Porter 6 3 6-7 27, Gavin Hunt 3 0 0-0 6, Clayton Thomas 0 4 0-0 12, J.D. Thacker 1 0 0-0 2, Jordan Williams 1 0 2-2 4, Zander Schmidt 3 1 0-0 9, Chase Allen 0 1 0-0 3, Nate Thacker 1 0 0-0 2, Will Davis 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19 12 8-9 82. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.
CHESAPEAKE (4-3, 2-3): Caleb Schneider 0 1 202 5, Travis Grim 2 4 0-0 16, Nathan Cox 1 0 0-0 2, Levi Blankenship 1 2 0-0 8, Dannie Maynard 1 0 0-0 2, Ben Bragg 2 0 0-3 4, J.D. Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Henderson 0 0 0-0 0, Devon Bellomy 1 0 0-0 2, Jacob Lemley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8 7 2-5 39. Fouls: 6. Fouled out: None.