Tag: OVC

Collins picks up 169th career coaching victory, second winningest coach in Portsmouth History

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Portsmouth72Win
Coal Grove61Loss

Collins makes history in Trojans’ triumph

By Paul Boggs

 

PORTSMOUTH — Eugene Collins doesn’t seem to get too high or too low during basketball games, and definitely shouts and screams even less.

Instead, what Collins does do besides calms the proverbial waters is win at the same time.

And, at his alma mater of Portsmouth High School on Tuesday night — inside PHS’ Trojan Arena —Collins captured his 169th career coaching victory, making him the second winningest coach in the decorated and proud history of tradition-rich Trojan boys basketball.

His Trojans, trailing for just two minutes in the second quarter and shooting a sizzling 56-percent for the entire game with 10 made three-pointers, triumphed 72-61 over the visiting Coal Grove Hornets in an Ohio Valley Conference contest.

With the victory, the Trojans bounced back nicely from a heartbreaking 62-61 OVC loss at Ironton on Friday night — and improved to 6-7 and 3-4 in the league.

But Tuesday’s tilt was all about the 11-year head coach Collins, who entered against the Hornets tied with Richard “Red” Hopkins with 168 career wins —tied for the second-most all-time on the career coaching wins list at Portsmouth.

Collins now sports a record of 169-87 at PHS, as Hopkins —who coached the Trojans for 11 years from 1926 thru 1936 —had a record of 168-58.

Collins — widely respected amongst coaching peers, players and fans alike — especially those in Southeastern Ohio, commented on his Trojan tenure and what the honor means.

Head Coach Gene Collins

Current Team
Portsmouth
“This is special. To not only play here, but then become the head coach here. We’re in the top-10 in all-time wins in the state. I have to give a ton of credit to all my players, former staff, current coaches, the administration…everybody has been really good to me. I’ve just been blessed and fortunate to ride this wave,” he said. “It hasn’t felt like 11 years, but time has been flying by.”

Indeed, it doesn’t feel like a second decade of coaching has started for Collins, but the resume from his first 10 years is quite impressive.

His Trojans have appeared in three regional championship games, which include back-to-back Division III state tournament berths in 2011 and 2012.

At the league level, Portsmouth won two Southeastern Ohio Athletic League titles in 2012 and 2014, followed by an OVC championship in 2015.

He has been the SEOAL and OVC Coach of the Year, the Southeast District Division III Coach of the Year as bestowed upon by the Associated Press, and the Division III Ohio Coach of the Year in 2012.

Speaking of 2012, he is the last Southeast District boys coach to have won a state semifinal, as his Trojans topped Ottawa-Glandorf 74-66.

Collins is one of four Trojan coaches to lead Portsmouth to the state tournament more than once, as the previous three were Red Hopkins (1926, 1927, 1929, 1931 and 1934), Richard “Dick” Hopkins (1978 and 1980) and Joe Suboticki (1988 and 1990).

The all-time winningest coach in Portsmouth history remains George Heller, who went 224-137 from 1952 to 1968.

If Collins coaches long enough, and if the Trojans win of course, it is likely he will pass Heller —as only 55 victories separate the two as of this morning.

But Collins’ chief concern on Tuesday night was getting his 2020 Trojans back on the winning track, as Portsmouth pushed out to a 16-8 early advantage —before the Hornets hit back behind Evan Gannon’s three first-half three-pointers and went on a 15-3 run over a span of six minutes.

Coal Grove claimed its lead at 20-19 on a Peyton Smith drive at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter, as Gannon garnered his final trifecta for a four-point bulge (23-19) just 25 seconds later.

But the Trojans’ Amare Johnson drained two treys just 45 seconds apart for the 25-25 tie, sandwiched around Smith scoring on a rebound putback.

That’s when Matthew Fraulini caught fire for Portsmouth, as his second-stanza three-ball boosted the Trojans back in front for good at 28-25.

After two first-quarter deuces, he dropped in another in the second to make it a five-point (30-25) lead, as Drew Roe then scored with 90 seconds left in the period for another advantage (32-25) of at least six.

Portsmouth shot the ball well —56-percent for the game on 28-of-50.

It canned 10-of-21 three-balls for 48-percent, and attacked the basket well for high-percentage shots —going 18-of-29 for a fiery 62-percent from inside the arc, including 11-of-15 (73-percent) in the opening half.

“It’s good to see things that you work on in practice carry over into the game. We’ve been working on pitching it up and getting shots on the wing. Matt (Fraulini) hit some threes. We’ve been working on swinging it to the trailer and getting some trail threes with Donavon Carr,” said Collins. “It was good to see the last couple of days of practice pay off like that. We’ve been working a lot lately on shooting, and guys stepped up and made shots.”

Did they ever — especially in the second half after those three makes on a dozen attempts in the first.

Three Hornet hoops got the guests to within 34-33, but the Trojans —with three threes by Fraulini and one from Roe —doubled up the Hornets 20-10 over the final 5:13 of the third quarter.

In the fourth frame, Carr dialed in twice from long distance, as Johnson —with Portsmouth leading 60-51 and with 4:15 remaining —drilled his third three to make it a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

The Trojans then finished off Coal Grove with 4-of-6 free throws in the final 1:23, as Johnson split a pair for his 14th and final point —while Fraulini went 3-of-4 to cap his team-high pouring in of 23.

Fraulini’s 23 included four deuces and four treys, as Johnson (14 points), Roe (13 points) and Carr (12) closely followed suit.

All three totaled five field goals apiece, as Miles Shipp scored three baskets with one apiece from Dariyonne Bryant (first quarter) and Chris Duff (third quarter).

The Trojans, aside from the five twos and five threes from Gannon towards a game-high 25 points, defended well on the perimeter —as Coal Grove shot just 5-of-22 from three-point range.

“Our gameplan was to make sure we didn’t give their shooters good looks,” said Collins. “For the most part, we did pretty good except for Gannon.”

Trevor Carey —on six field goals and two made free throws — chipped in 14 points, while Smith and Jarren Hicks added eight points apiece on three field goals and two made foul shots.

The Hornets, which had won five consecutive over the Trojans, fell to 3-9 —and to 2-5 in the OVC.

The triumph by the Trojans was important for the young club’s confidence, and to inch closer to the .500 mark while climbing the ladder of the OVC standings.

It’s a two-horse race right now with league-leader Fairland and second-place Chesapeake, but Portsmouth desires to make it a three-way or even four-way dance, as South Point and Ironton are in the middle mix as well.

“It’s a great win for our kids. I am so proud of them,” said Collins. “To get a win and get to 3-4 in the league, we kind of went from the bottom of the league to the middle of the league. It was a great opportunity for us. I think tonight we finished the game, whereas at Ironton we just didn’t close it out. We took strides tonight at getting better at finishing.”

And, Collins took a personal stride into Portsmouth boys basketball history, although his focus following Tuesday night’s win was indeed on the here and now.

Plus…next month’s tournament trek.

“We’re having fun and we’re getting better every game. We’re looking to be humming on all cylinders come February,” he said.

Information from www.PortsmouthBasketball.net was used in this report.

* * *

Coal Grove 11 16 16 18 — 61

Portsmouth 16 16 22 18— 72

COAL GROVE 61 (3-9, 2-5 OVC)

Perry Kingery 2 0-0 4, Cory Borders 0 0-0 0, Evan Gannon 10 0-0 25, Peyton Smith 3 2-4 8, Trevor Hankins 0 0-0 0, Luke Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Maliachi Wheeler 1 0-0 2, Jarren Hicks 3 2-2 8, Ethan Short 0 0-0 0, Trevor Carey 6 2-6 14; TOTALS 25 6-12 61; Three-point goals: 5 (Evan Gannon 5)

PORTSMOUTH 72 (6-7, 3-4 OVC)

Amare Johnson 5 1-2 14, Matthew Fraulini 8 3-4 23, Dariyonne Bryant 1 0-0 2, Drew Roe 5 2-4 13, Jessie Dixon 0 0-0 0, Miles Shipp 3 0-0 6, Chris Duff 1 0-0 2, Donavon Carr 5 0-1 12; TOTALS 28 6-11 72; Three-point goals: 10 (Matthew Fraulini 4, Amare Johnson 3, Donavon Carr 2, Drew Roe 1)

Portsmouth

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Amare Johnson140000
2Matthew Fraulini230000
3Dariyonne Bryant20000
14Drew Roe130000
22Jessie Dixon00000
24Miles Shipp60000
30Chris Duff20000
Donavon Carr120000
 Total720000

Coal Grove

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Perry Kingery40000
3Evan Gannon250000
5Peyton Smith80000
10Trevor Hankins00000
12Luke Ferguson00000
14Maliachi Wheeler20000
23Jarren Hicks80000
32Ethan Short00000
34Trevor Carey140000
 Total610000

Court

Portsmouth

Details

Date Time League Season
January 14, 2020 7:30 pm OVC 2019-20

Glenwood holds off South Point in big win

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Glenwood68Win
South Point61Loss

By Paul Boggs

NEW BOSTON — New Boston boys basketball coach Adam Cox considered it the Tigers’ best performance of the season.

No doubt, at the very least, it had to impress members of the 1960 squad which were in attendance —and honored —on Saturday night.

The host Tigers led wire-to-wire, and executed their gameplan to near perfection, in capturing a key 68-63 non-league victory over the South Point Pointers inside an amped-up Homer Pellegrinon Memorial Gymnasium in New Boston.

With the victory, the Tigers —the third-ranked team in the Associated Press Ohio High School Boys Basketball Division IV poll —raised their stellar record to 11-1, while South Point of Division III fell to an even 5-5.

The Tigers, in front of the famed 1960 team which was honored on Saturday night for winning the regional championship 60 years ago, took pages out of an old-school playbook against the Pointers.

That gameplan indeed worked, as the Tigers —having never trailed and only taking 10 total three-point attempts — tallied 27 field goals from inside the arc on an array of elbow jump shots, high-post to low-post passes, and the classic beat ‘em backdoor Princeton-style cuts.

It all started with — and centered around — six-foot five-inch Kyle Sexton scoring seven first-half field goals, and ended with Tanner Voiers and others attacking the basket in the second half.

It appeared to be throw-back basketball, with excellent ball movement and more importantly ball-sharing, but Cox claimed it was the “best-followed gameplan of the season”.

Head Coach Adam Cox

Current Team
Glenwood
“That was our gameplan. That’s the best our kids have followed a gameplan all year. We have detailed reports on everybody we play. But tonight was the first time I thought they (Tigers) trusted the gameplan 100-percent. And we went eight deep, and you didn’t see us drop off when anybody came in the game. Even in timeouts, they responded and got the ball where we wanted to. We came in and practiced hard this week of playing against a zone. They (Pointers) zoned us last year, and we really didn’t have a good offense for that. I thought that tonight we were able to establish a presence on knowing we were going to go to the post, no matter whether they zoned us or not,” said the coach. “We didn’t think they would have an answer for Kyle, but not a lot of teams do have an answer for Kyle.”

#
4
Name
Kyle Sexton
Class
2020
Height
6-05
Current Team
Glenwood
Leagues
All Time Stat Leaders, SEO, SOC1
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Sexton scored 16 points on seven first-half field goals and 2-of-3 fourth-quarter free throws, as he also grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out six assists.

Sexton drew double and triple-teams, which freed up the likes of Tanner Voiers, Marcus Saunders and Jerome McKinley — as Voiers went off for a team-high 18 points on seven field goals and 3-of-4 free throws.

#
3
Name
Tanner Voiers
Class
2021
Height
6-01
Current Team
Glenwood
Past Teams
South Webster
Leagues
SEO, SOC1, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Voiers scored 16 in the second half, as Saunders and McKinley mustered seven points apiece on three second-half field goals.

Grady Jackson, on three field goals and 2-of-2 foul shots, and Chase Clark —on four buckets —added eight points apiece.

Malachi Potts and Devon Jones scored a basket apiece, as the entire offense was predicated off of Sexton’s passing.

“We executed really well on trying to make sure we went inside then out. Instead of relying on the outside shot. We really developed that in the second half at Peebles (52-46 loss on Jan. 4) and realized how undeniable we were once we established a post game. We did a great job of establishing Kyle (Sexton) inside early, and that makes people around Kyle a lot better, as long as they don’t stand,” said Cox. “I thought we did a good job of moving off of Kyle’s passes in the post. He had 14 in the first half, and only scored two points in the second half, but he drew two or three defenders the rest of the way out. We then tried to establish Tanner (Voiers) more in the post with a mismatch on him. Just to give it a different look and to get Tanner’s confidence going.”

But, even the best gameplans can go off script —and some even work out when they had no business to begin with.

Case in point.

The Tigers maintained anywhere from a two-to-eight point advantage in the opening 18 minutes and 45 seconds, before finally leading 43-32 with 3:08 to play in the third quarter.

However, the Pointers sliced the deficit to 43-41 with nine unanswered, including back-to-back steals and layups by Chance Gunther and Nakyan Turner —and a three-point bomb by Gunther with a minute and 27 seconds to go.

A Clark basket snapped a two-minute scoring drought, but Voiers’ three-point basket to beat the quarter-buzzer was indeed the sight to behold.

With time winding down, Sexton and a South Point player scrambled for a loose ball near the elbow —with Sexton, on his backside, basically back-tapping somehow the ball back to Voiers on the wing.

Voiers caught the pass, and off-balance bagged a dagger of a three-pointer to make it 48-41.

The play happened directly in front of the Tigers’ bench, as they roared in celebration —and Cox was the first to high-five Voiers.

“Just how we drew it up,” joked Cox. “Let’s knock the ball around about three times, travel and get away with it, have Kyle tip it off the floor, which was a very heads-up and great hustle play by Kyle, and Tanner hit that off-balance three on one foot. Tanner had been in a shooting slump and scoring slump lately, but tonight was a really good breakout game for him.”

But South Point never went away.

In the final period, the Pointers shaved the deficit to five four times (48-43, 50-45, 52-47 and 54-49) through the first three minutes and 20 seconds —before Saunders scored on a run-out basket at the 3:47 mark to make it 56-49.

But Saunders wasn’t done.

At exactly the three-minute mark, he splashed a corner-pocket three for a 59-49 Tiger advantage, as South Point never got the deficit under eight after that.

The Tigers sank 5-of-7 free throws in the final 6:25, while the Pointers —which were in the bonus situation for the final four minutes including the double bonus for the final two —could only make four of 10 attempts at the line in the last quarter.

In the second half, in fact, they were 5-of-14 —part of a paltry 6-of-18 for 33-percent for the entire game.

#
3
Name
Chance Gunther
Class
2020
Current Team
South Point
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Gunther, who poured in a game-high 25 points including all three of the Pointers’ treys, canned a pair in the final 1:37 —including swishing one at the buzzer for the 68-63 final.

He erupted for 11 total field goals and scored 17 in the second half, as Turner totaled 17 points on seven field goals and 3-of-5 freebies —13 of which were over the second 16 minutes.

#
13
Name
Austin Webb
Class
2021
Current Team
South Point
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Austin Webb chipped in 13 points on five field goals and three made free throws, but Cox said his Tigers — especially Sexton — stymied him to almost half his scoring average.

“The Webb kid is averaging 25 points per game. I thought Kyle clamped him down all game long,” he said.

Indeed, defensively AND offensively, Cox said his team “needed that” — as in arguably its best performance of the year.

“That’s our biggest win of the season so far, in my opinion,” he said. “I felt like we needed that. That’s a good Division III team that we beat. We’re 11-1 right now and we work our tails off.”

And, it had to impress the 1960 regional champions — which went 24-1 (90-5 in four years) and is the only New Boston boys basketball team to ever reach the state tournament.

The Tigers of 60 years ago sat right behind the current Tigers’ bench to witness the win firsthand.

“These guys wanted to show those guys what they want to carry on. They feel like they are the best team since that 1960 team,” said Cox. “They (2020 Tigers) wanted to show that they are proud to be mentioned in the same sentence as them. We respect our alumni here at New Boston and it’s something special.”

* * *

South Point 11 14 16 22 — 63

New Boston 16 13 19 20— 68

SOUTH POINT 63 (5-5)

Jake Adams 2 0-0 4, Chance Gunther 11 0-0 25, Nakyan Turner 7 3-5 17, Mason Kazee 1 0-0 2, Darryl Taylor 1 0-3 2, Austin Webb 5 3-10 13, Kyle Badgett 0 0-0 0, Brody Blackwell 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 27 6-18 63; Three-point goals: 3 (Chance Gunther 3)

NEW BOSTON 68 (11-1)

Malachi Potts 1 0-0 2, Grady Jackson 3 2-3 8, Tanner Voiers 7 3-4 18, Kyle Sexton 7 2-3 16, Devon Jones 1 0-2 2, Blake Grant 0 0-0 0, Kage Truitt 0 0-0 0, Levi Bowman 0 0-0 0, Marcus Saunders 3 0-0 7, Jerome McKinley 3 1-2 7, Chase Clark 4 0-1 8; TOTALS 29 8-15 68; Three-point goals: 2 (Tanner Voiers and Marcus Saunders 1 apiece)

 

Glenwoods 2019-20 Schedule & Results

DateHomeResultsAwayCourtArticle
2019-11-30 00:00:00November 30, 201961 - 42
N/A
Recap
2019-12-06 19:30:00December 6, 201951 - 64
N/A
Recap
2019-12-10 19:30:00December 10, 201961 - 85
N/A
Recap
2019-12-13 19:30:00December 13, 201981 - 28
N/A
Recap
2019-12-14 19:30:00December 14, 201950 - 58
N/A
Recap
2019-12-17 19:30:00December 17, 201943 - 73
N/A
Recap
2019-12-20 19:30:00December 20, 201956 - 43
N/A
Recap
2019-12-28 19:30:00December 28, 201947 - 60
N/A
Recap
2020-01-03 19:30:00January 3, 202050 - 38
N/A
Recap
2020-01-04 19:30:00January 4, 202052 - 46
N/A
Recap
2020-01-07 19:30:00January 7, 202044 - 77
N/A
Recap
2020-01-11 19:30:00January 11, 202068 - 61
N/A
Recap
2020-01-14 19:30:00January 14, 202069 - 55
N/A
Recap
2020-01-15 19:30:00January 15, 202062 - 68
N/A
Recap
2020-01-21 19:30:00January 21, 202059 - 36
N/A
Recap
2020-01-24 19:30:00January 24, 202063 - 66
N/A
Recap
2020-01-25 19:30:00January 25, 202098 - 55
N/A
Recap
2020-01-28 19:30:00January 28, 202025 - 68
N/A
Recap
2020-01-31 19:30:00January 31, 202060 - 63
N/A
Recap
2020-02-08 19:30:00February 8, 202073 - 59
N/A
Recap
2020-02-11 19:30:00February 11, 202050 - 61
N/A
Recap
2020-02-14 19:30:00February 14, 202062 - 35
N/A
Recap
2020-02-25 09:51:10February 25, 202043 - 40
N/A
Recap
2020-03-03 18:15:52March 3, 202055 - 71
N/A
Recap
View all games

Glenwood

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Malachi Potts20000
2Grady Jackson80000
3Tanner Voiers180000
4Kyle Sexton160000
5Devon Jones20000
13Blake Grant00000
20Kage Truitt00000
21Levi Bowman00000
23Marcus Saunders70000
24Jerome McKinley70000
32Chase Clark80000
 Total680000

South Point

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Darryl Taylor20000
3Chance Gunther250000
4Nakyan Turner170000
13Austin Webb130000
Jake Adams40000
23Kyle Badgett00000
30Brody Blackwell00000
33Mason Kazee20000
 Total630000

Court

Glenwood

Details

Date Time League Season
January 11, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

Panthers pummel Trojans in OVC

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Portsmouth36Loss
Chesapeake80Win

Panthers pummel Trojans in OVC

‘Peake perfect still after 80-37 rout

By Paul Boggs

 

 

PORTSMOUTH — If you’re a Portsmouth Trojans’ boys basketball fan, blame it on being Friday the 13th.

If you’re a Chesapeake Panthers’ supporter, conversely, this night needed not a lot of luck.

On a Friday night of when it indeed rains it pours, the visiting Panthers scored the game’s first 11 points and 20 of the opening 23 — and outscored the Trojans 50-20 in the second half en route to surprisingly pummeling Portsmouth 80-37 in an Ohio Valley Conference affair inside Portsmouth High School’s Trojan Arena.

That’s correct.

Chesapeake hit 80, while the Trojans never reached 40.

With the win, Chesapeake remained undefeated at 3-0 — and 2-0 in the OVC.

It was also the second time that the Panthers have traveled to Scioto County within the past 10 days — and amassed at least 80 points.

They also scored 76 on Tuesday in their OVC opener against Rock Hill, but getting 80 on Friday including 50 in the second half had to be head-turning — and even eye-popping — to some.

Four Panthers posted double figures — as Ethan Taylor tallied a game-high 20 on eight total field goals and a free throw.

#
2
Name
Travis Grim
Class
2021
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Travis Grim garnered 14 on six total field goals,

 

#
4
Name
Levi Blankenship
Class
2022
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
  Levi Blankenship boasted 13 on four field goals and 2-of-3 free throws,

 

#
12
Name
Austin Jackson
Class
2020
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
and Austin Jackson chipped in a dozen on five field goals and a split of second-quarter foul shots.

 

The foursome combined for the seven Panther three-pointers, as Chesapeake torched the Trojans’ transition game and full-court press for layups and easy baskets all night.

While veteran Chesapeake coach Ryan Davis said his squad has started the season strong defensively, they hadn’t — until Friday — turned turnovers into transition buckets.

Taylor, Grim and Josh Cox collected seven rebounds apiece, as Jackson grabbed five — all in the second quarter.

Head Coach Ryan Davis

Current Team
Chesapeake
“Against Valley, we forced 20 first-half turnovers, but didn’t turn them into baskets. Tonight, eventually, we did that. We finally started containing some people, contesting shots and making shots tough. Then rebounding the ball and getting out,” said Davis. “We can run, and we’re tough. Pushing the tempo for us is not an issue.”

Indeed, Chesapeake’s defense did the job early on, as the Trojans turned the ball over 13 times in the first half — and more importantly missed their first 14 shot attempts.

Chesapeake scored 13 of the 14 total first-period points, with the Trojans finally getting on the board with 24 seconds remaining — on a Matthew Fraulini free throw.

After Taylor tallied his three-pointer for a 19-1 Panther bulge with only a minute and 20 seconds gone by in the second, Dariyonne Bryant bucketed two foul shots — before Taylor tacked on two deuces to make it 23-3 with 4:55 remaining before halftime.

Taylor — the six-foot, four-inch sophomore — had 15 of his 20 before halftime and 11 in the second quarter, spelling Cox on the inside as he got into early foul trouble.

He also blocked three shots.

“We had a lot of great minutes out of Ethan Taylor,” said Davis.

Finally, on their 15th shot attempt, the Trojans scored their first field goal after 11 minutes and 55 seconds of game time — a three-pointer by Jessie Dixon.

Truth be told, the Trojans weren’t seeing any black cats, just purple Panthers putting it on them.

Portsmouth shot just 4-of-22 in the first half, part of 11-of-55 for 20-percent for the entire tilt with 24 turnovers.

Many of those missed shots were from close range — either layups in the lane or rebound putbacks.

Head Coach Gene Collins

Current Team
Portsmouth
“It just unraveled on us early on. We started the game with getting several stops defensively, but we just missed several shots right from point-blank range. Then they got going and once they got going, we just kept missing. If we weren’t missing, we were turning it over. It just turned into an onslaught of 23-3 at one point,” said 12-year Portsmouth head coach Gene Collins.

But over the final four-and-a-half minutes of the second stanza, the Trojans actually doubled up the Panthers 14-7 to trail by 13 four times (24-11, 26-13, 28-15 and 30-17) — including 30-17 at halftime.

Drew Roe, who paced Portsmouth with four field goals towards 11 points, rattled in his first of two triples to make it 24-11 — as the Trojans shot 7-of-15 from the free-throw line in the opening half, including 4-of-4 by Bryant and one apiece by Roe and Miles Shipp.

Amare Johnson scored a pair of second-quarter baskets, then his final field goal just 40 seconds into the third quarter got the Trojans to within 11.

But for the final 6:55 of the third, Chesapeake put up 26 points compared to the Trojans’ 10 — as the Panthers tripled the Trojans’ total in the fourth for a 24-8 count.

The 80-37 final, in fact, was the largest margin of the game.

The Panthers held a 33-11 advantage in total field goals, and shot 33-of-64 from the field for 51.5-percent — thanks in large part to layups in breaking the Trojans’ transition defense.

Trent Dearth scored eight points — on four third-quarter field goals.

They sank 7-of-16 threes, including 5-of-10 in the second half — with three by Blankenship and two by Grim.

“We actually didn’t handle the press the way I wanted us to, but we didn’t turn the ball over against it,” said Davis. “In the second half, we stopped pushing the ball into bad spots and turning it over and taking bad shots. We settled down and got ourselves good shots when we did run.”

Collins said the Panthers picked up in the second half where they left off in the first.

“We got it down to 11 (30-19), but they score in waves and we continued to miss easy shots,” he said. “That floodgate opened, it got away from us and we were never able to recover. We knew transition was going to be an issue. The frustrating thing was that we thought we had a sound gameplan to stop their transition by getting back. We just didn’t get back. But when you’re turning it over that much, it’s hard to get back. Now they have the court open, and they are very good in transition. It’s a lesson learned for our young group.”

Both clubs are young, as the nine-man Panthers sport just Jackson and Cox as seniors, while Portsmouth’s sole senior in the regular rotation is Fraulini.

The Trojans start three sophomores including Bryant, who went 6-of-6 at the stripe as part of eight points, while fellow sophomores Johnson and Dixon scored six apiece — including 3-of-6 foul shots by Dixon.

It was also the Trojans’ third game in four days — all of which were losses but at least the first two were decided by seven points or less (82-75 loss at South Point on Tuesday and 71-66 loss against Huntington St. Joseph on Wednesday).

Portsmouth, which opened the season on Dec. 6 with a non-league triumph over Piketon, fell to 1-3 — and 0-2 in the OVC.

Friday the 13th, unfortunately for the Trojans, felt like such.

“We’re still playing catch-up and the schedule hasn’t been in our favor so far, but it’s not the end of the world,” said Collins. “Right now, we’re trying to restore some confidence in our kids. I’m more worried right now about our mental than our physical. We just have to continue to work with these young guys. We’re going to be okay. No matter what our record is or what it’s going to be, our goal is to get better.”

The Panthers’ record remains perfect — but they still aim to be better as well.

“We’ll take 3-0 through three games. Three years ago, we won just four all year. I’m learning to be appreciative of wins. And I am appreciative of these guys,” said Davis. “Nobody knows the type of guys that we have on the team. They are coachable and driven and they’ve got stuff to prove.”

* * *

Chesapeake 13 17 26 24 — 80

Portsmouth 1 16 12 8— 37

CHESAPEAKE 80 (3-0, 2-0 OVC)

Travis Grim 6 0-0 14, Nathan Cox 2 1-1 5, Levi Blankenship 4 2-3 13, Dilen Caldwell 1 2-2 4, Austin Jackson 5 1-2 12, Trent Dearth 4 0-0 8, Josh Cox 2 0-0 4, Ethan Taylor 9 1-1 20, Jacob Lemley 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 33 7-9 80; Three-point goals: 7 (Levi Blankenship 3, Travis Grim 2, Austin Jackson and Ethan Taylor 1 apiece)

PORTSMOUTH 37 (1-3, 0-2 OVC)

Amare Johnson 3 0-0 6, Matthew Fraulini 1 1-2 3, Dariyonne Bryant 1 6-6 8, Jack Workman 0 0-0 0, Drew Roe 4 1-2 11, Daewin Spence 0 0-0 0, Jessie Dixon 1 3-6 6, Michael Duncan 0 0-0 0, Miles Shipp 0 1-4 1, Chris Duff 0 0-0 0, Jaylind Thomas 1 0-0 2, Trevor Pope 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 11 12-20 37; Three-point goals: 3 (Drew Roe 2, Jesse Dixon 1)

Portsmouth

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Amare Johnson60000
2Matthew Fraulini30000
3Dariyonne Bryant80000
11Jack Workman00000
14Drew Roe110000
21Daewin Spence00000
22Jessie Dixon60000
23Michael Duncan00000
24Miles Shipp10000
30Chris Duff00000
32Jaylind Thomas20000
34Trevor Pope00000
 Total370000

Chesapeake

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
2Travis Grim140000
3Nathan Cox50000
4Levi Blankenship130000
5Dilen Caldwell40000
12Austin Jackson120000
21Trent Dearth80000
22Josh Cox40000
32Ethan Taylor200000
33Jacob Lemley00000
 Total800000

Court

Portsmouth

Details

Date Time League Season
December 13, 2019 7:30 pm OVC 2019-20