Sports
Panthers’ Dominant Defense Holds Off Eagles
By: Nick Viland
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Chesapeake’s defense was too much for the Eastern Eagles as the Panthers ran a full-court press, catching the Eagles off guard. The press led Eastern to give up 19 turnovers, limiting themselves to 19 points in the first half and 34 for the entire game.
Scoring did not come easy for the Eagles. Eastern, through two quarters, was only able to score with two players: Colton Reynolds with 10 points and Garrett Barringer with nine.
Chesapeake, on the other hand, was able to move the ball effectively and score easily. Nine out of their 11 players were able to score with three players registering in double figures.
The Eagles fought hard all game, but lost, 61-34.
“Did we make mistakes tonight? Yeah, but did we make any mistakes tonight that aren’t correctable? No, so I can live with that,” Eastern head coach David Kight said. “This is game two, not game 22.”
Chesapeake’s 2-3 zone defense and their full-court press were tough to crack for the Eagles.
“When we did the things we worked on we were fine,” Kight said. “Early on we got out there but didn’t take it up as strong as I would’ve liked. I think their length bothered us, they got some pretty good size on the back line.”
Chesapeake’s leading scorer was Eli Archer with 16 points and went 7-12 from the field as well as leading the team with 7 rebounds.
Eastern looks forward to playing their rival Southern on Friday in hostile territory. It will be the first conference game for either team.
“It’s something they’ll be used to,” Kight said. “You like that inter-county rivalry game a couple miles down the road.”