Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ATHENS — All year long, Chesapeake has found itself in absolute, all-out battles.
But through it all — yes, even the losses — the Panthers have always taken the lessons learned and applied them to make themselves that much better.
And it paid off in a big way on Friday night.
In a Division V district championship game at Ohio University, Chesapeake (22-3) battled all night long before taking a late lead and holding onto it, topping Wheelersburg by a 49-45 final.
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
“You have to go through some struggles and a little bit of adversity to be able to forge the steel you need to win a game like this,” Chesapeake coach Steven Ater said. “This game comes down to executing an inbound or taking a set away from them. Just something that’s going to be able to swing the game. You have to be able to take something that didn’t work earlier in the year, fix it and learn from it. These guys have just been resilient. Tonight was a prime example of that.”
Defense was the story in the first half. The game’s first score didn’t come until the 5:36 mark in the first quarter, thanks to two free throws from Wheelersburg’s Xavier Miller.
Chesapeake’s Maddox Kazee answered with a bucket with 5:12 to go before adding another with 2:46 left, putting the Panthers their first lead at 4-2.
Three more lead changes took place before the beginning of the second, the final of which swung in Wheelersburg’s favor on a basket from Braylon Rucker to put ‘Burg ahead 7-6.
The offensive pace picked up a tad in the second, featuring five combined 3-balls.
Landon McGraw tallied the first, making it a 10-6 lead before Miller scored at the 4:12 mark, capping a 7-2 run and extending the lead to 14-8.
But Kazee got going for Chesapeake, scoring eight points throughout the rest of the first half to bring his team to within two at 19-17 heading into halftime.
“I won’t make any excuses for him, but he was sick last night,” Ater said of Kazee. “So we were worried about him, like, ‘Is he going to be OK?’ He was visibly fatigued and in the fourth quarter, I just kept telling him to hang on. Just a little longer. He kept referencing [Michael Jordan’s] flu game. He was great tonight, even through that.”
Kazee picked up where he left off in the third, immediately giving his team a 20-19 lead with a three-point play. But it was short-lived as McGraw put ‘Burg back in front with two free throws just 14 seconds later.
The Pirates (12-12) would retain that lead throughout the rest of the third, consistently providing an answer on the offensive end with an onslaught of names. Rucker, Miller, Hunter Bivens and Xavier Miller all got in on the action, allowing ‘Burg to take a 32-29 edge into the final eight minutes.
And that’s when the tides turned.
Chesapeake got four straight points from Ethan Kerns to begin the fourth, taking a 33-32 lead.
The Panthers never trailed again.
Kerns’ four-point burst was the start of a 9-0 run, one that gave ‘Peake a 38-32 less with 4:03 to go and one that also featured scores from Karson Frecka and Philip Thacker.
“We feel like we have some guys that are quick and that are athletes,” Ater said. “[Wheelersburg] is quicker. We didn’t have an advantage there. So I think in the first half, it took us a little bit of time to figure that out. They were also mixing man and zone defenses. But we started getting some good looks. In the second half, we just kind of got tough and started doing what we needed to do.”
Still, Wheelersburg wouldn’t go away.
The Pirates answered with a score from Rucker and a 3 from Miller, shaving the deficit to 38-37 with 2:40 to go. They even tied the game at 39-39 near the two-minute mark.
After two baskets on each end, and with under a minute left, the score remained tied, 43-43. That’s when Ater went to his drawing board — literally.
On an inbound play, Kerns set a perfect screen to free Kaden Perkins. Kazee found Perkins with a thread-the-needle pass and Perkins finished at the rim through contact, eventually putting Chesapeake ahead 46-43 after hitting the foul shot.
It was the defining moment of the second half and allowed the Panthers to hold onto a victory.
“I always beg, borrow and steal from others so I won’t take credit for that,” Ater said. “It’s one of those things where I ask the kids, ‘Do you think we can get this? It has to be 100 percent yes.’ It opened up like the Red Sea for us. So much credit there, the pass, the screen and the bucket, it was so massive for us.”
Statistically, Kazee finished with a game-high 20 points alongside five rebounds while Frecka added nine points and five boards. Kerns also chipped in with eight points, four rebounds and four assists.
Wheelersburg was led by Rucker, who posted 14 points and four rebounds. Miller followed with nine points, six rebounds and four assists, and Mowery helped out with eight points.
Chesapeake now advances to a Division V regional semifinal at 8 p.m. on Friday at Ohio University. The Panthers will meet with either St. Clairsville or Martins Ferry out of the East District.
“We wanted to win at the Convo. It wasn’t enough to just get here,” Ater said. “That’s how we approached this. I’ve long been a believer that if you keep improving day in and day out, it works. This week, we’re going to get in the gym and it’s going to be about us. Then, we’ll worry about the other teams down the road. I don’t care who’s on the line with us, we want to just keep writing Chesapeake one line further on the bracket. For the kids to get the chance to do that, how special is that? For our team, for our kids and for our community. I’m just happy for them.”
BOX SCORE
Wheelersburg: 7-12-13-13 — 45
Chesapeake: 6-11-12-20 — 49
Wheelersburg: 16-39 FG, 6-7 FT, 7-17 3pt., 17 rebounds (Miller 6, McGraw 6), 8 turnovers, 10 assists (Miller 4). Scoring: Rucker 14, Miller 9, Mowery 8, Bivens 6, McGraw 5, Doerr 3.
Chesapeake: 17-34 FG, 11-17 FT, 4-10 3pt., 18 rebounds (Kazee 5, Frecka 5), 8 turnovers, 12 assists (Perkins 4). Scoring: Kazee 20, Frecka 9, Kerns 8, Thacker 6, Plantz 3, Perkins 3.
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