Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

MT. OLIVET, Ky. — With the circumstances facing Coal Grove, the Hornets must have felt like they were in “The Twilight Zone.”

Fortunately, Conor Markins was “in the zone.”

With all the bizarre happenings, Markins scored 26 points to help Coal Grove beat the Robertson County Black Devils 64-59 on Saturday.

Starting point guard Alex Bare missed all but the final 12 seconds of the game with an ankle sprain. Starter Brandon Adkins sat out half the game after being saddled early with foul trouble.

With Bare and Adkins sitting, other Hornets made some key contributions including Isaiah Gunther who was 8 of 8 from the foul line and Sean Paulus who scored 14 points.

Markins drained three straight 3-point goals in the first quarter as Coal Grove jumped out to a 14-5 lead.

But Darrin Edwards scored 14 points in the second quarter as the Devils cut the deficit to 30-27 at the half.

Paulus scored 5 points at the start of the second half and Trevor Barrett came up with a big put-back at the four-minute mark as Coal Grove went up 41-32.

The Devils pulled to within 41-38 when Jonathon Joseph hit a jumper in the lane at the 1:45 mark that helped the Hornets open up a 50-40 lead.

However, a 35-footer at the buzzer by the Devils made it 50-43 at the end of the quarter.

Robertson County kept the momentum going and cut the spread to 53-50 to begin the fourth quarter. Joe Akers then hit a 10-footer and Paulus made a running floater with 4:10 left that gave the Hornets some breathing room with a 57-50 lead.

Gunther then sealed the win with six clutch foul shots down the stretch.

Bare did make one of two free throw attempts in his brief appearance.

Edwards scored 22 points, Tyler Burns 16 and Justin Pilosky 12 for the Devils (3-23).

Also getting into the game briefly was Bryan Steele who made a field goal. Steele suffered a torn ACL in August and missed the entire football season and all of basketball season until Saturday.

Coal Grove plays at Fairland Tuesday in a key Ohio Valley Conference game.

Coal Grove 14 16 20 14 = 64

Robertson Co. 5 22 16 16 = 59

COAL GROVE (15-4): Trevor Barrett 1 0 0-0 2, Alex Bare 0 0 1-2 1, Jonathon Joseph 1 0 0-0 2, Bryan Steele 1 0 0-0 2, Sean Paulus 2 2 4-6 14, Isaiah Gunter 0 0 8-8 8, Brandon Adkins 1 1 0-0 5, Conor Markins 5 3 7-11 26, Joe Akers 1 0 0 0-0 2, Austin “Red” Pleasants 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 13 6 20-27 64. Fouled out: None.

ROBERTSON COUNTY (3-23): Tyler Burns 4 2 2-4 16, Darrin Edwards 3 4 4-4 22, Justin Pilosky 4 0 4-8 12, Dawson Cooper 1 0 5-6 7, Nathan Grigson 0 0 2-2 2, Myles Murphy 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Burden 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 6 17-24 59. Fouled out: Edwards, Cooper.