Portsmouth senior Deandre Berry (34)

Courtesy of Joann Waugh

PORTSMOUTH — Visiting Chesapeake withstood a flurry of second-half runs by Portsmouth, and held on to win 61-53 over the Trojans in Ohio Valley Conference boys basketball play on Friday night at Trojan Arena.

The loss put Portsmouth at 6-2 and 3-1 in the conference, while the Panthers improved to 6-3 and 2-2.

The Trojans went on a 7-0 run, and cut the Panthers’ lead to 48-44, when Malachi Loper drained a three-pointer — followed by a Donnovan Breech runner in the paint and a floater by Leelind Scurlock with 1:55 to play in the fourth quarter.

But Chesapeake quickly countered — when Ethan Kerns connected for two and Kaden Perkins made a steal and a layup to put the Panthers up 52-44.

Loper banged home another three-pointer, and swished two more free throws to bring the Trojans to within 52-49 with a minute to play.

But the Panthers connected on seven of eight free throws inside the final minute, and tossed in a layup from Dannie Maynard to seal the win.

“We were making a good run at it, but we had some breakdowns defensively and communication-wise,” Portsmouth head coach Jeff Lisath said. “And they got a couple of baskets to put them back up. It was just hard to get over that hump for whatever reason.”

Portsmouth pulled to within three points at 32-29, with 3:21 to play in the third quarter, when Levaughn Cobb busted a three-pointer.

But Chesapeake whipped off six unanswered points to boost the lead to 38-29 — thanks in part to two PHS turnovers that resulted in layups from Maynard and Perkins, and a putback on the offensive boards by Maddox Kazee.

“Ever since summer basketball, it’s been one of those situations where we get off to a slow start and we seem to struggle,” Lisath said. “That was the biggest thing tonight. I was getting worried in the first half, and we had to figure out a way to fight to get back in the game and we did close the gap right before the half, and I felt pretty comfortable going into the locker-room. But we just could never get that lead.”

Kazee and Maynard each scored 13 points for the Panthers, and sparked the third-quarter run that was significant in the win.

“I thought that stretch there in the third quarter when we were able to turn them over and got out and got some layups was big,” Chesapeake head coach Steven Ater said. “When our halfcourt offense is struggling a little, we have to get out and turn up some pressure and our kids were smart and did that well.”

The Panthers got off to a fast first-quarter start — with four three-pointers and grabbed a 16-8 lead.

But Portsmouth outscored Chesapeake 16-11 in the second quarter, and closed the gap to 27-24 — when Deandre Berry made a nifty move inside and scored on a finger roll, followed by a runner in the paint and a three-pointer both from Isaiah Lewis at the half.

“When we start slow, we struggle,” Lisath said. “We didn’t make shots when we needed to. I thought they spread us out and did a good job of running their offense and being patient and getting the best shots and we did just the opposite. Lately teams have come out that way — hot — and we’ve struggled trying to get ourselves moving in an offense and that’s something we need to work on.”

Portsmouth junior Malachi Loper (11)

Courtesy of Joann Waugh

Loper and Berry each had 14 points to lead the Trojans.

Luke Stine came off the bench and pulled down seven rebounds and added four points, while Scurlock added six points and was 4-of-5 at the free-throw line.

Portsmouth junior Luke Stine (33)

Courtesy of Joann Waugh

“We had some good production off the bench, and we’ve been looking to play more kids,” Lisath added. “We want to have our legs and more energy in the fourth quarter.”

Lewis and Breech each scored six points for PHS, which found itself in a three-way tie for the OVC’s second-place spot following Friday’s games.

Portsmouth senior Donnovan Breech (3)

Courtesy of Joann Waugh

Portsmouth played at Ironton on Tuesday night, as the Fighting Tigers (4-0 OVC) took over outright first-place following Friday.

The Trojans will host South Point (3-1 OVC) on Friday night in the OVC, then encounter Linden-McKinley in the Buckeye Elite Classic on Saturday at 2 p.m.

That latter contest is to be played at Shawnee State University.

* * *

Chesapeake 16 11 13 21—61

Portsmouth 8 16 9 20 —53

CHESAPEAKE 61 (6-3, 2-2 OVC)

Ethan Kerns 4 3-3 12, Caleb Cox 3 0-0 6, Kaden Perkins 3 0-0 6, Dannie Maynard 5 2-2 13, Philip Thacker 2 0-0 6, Maddox Kazee 4 5-8 13, Braxton Oldaker 0 2-2 2, Jacob Skeens 1 1-3 3; TOTALS 22 13-18 61; Three-point goals: 4 (Philip Thacker 2, Ethan Kerns and Dannie Maynard 1 apiece)

PORTSMOUTH 53 (6-2, 3-1 OVC)

Isaiah Lewis 2 1-2 6, Donovan Breech 3 0-0 6, Malachi Loper 4 3-4 14, Levaughn Cobb 1 0-0 3, Leelind Scurlock 1 4-5 6; Luke Stine 2 0-1 4, Deandre Berry 5 3-5 14; TOTALS 18 11-17 53; Three-point goals: 6 (Malachi Loper 3, Isaiah Lewis, Malachi Loper and Levaughn Cobb 1 apiece)