By Dustin Melchior

JACKSON— From the opening tip, the Fairland Dragons jumped all over the Coal Grove Hornets Friday evening to win the Division III Sectional Championship 66-33 at Jackson High School.
Isaiah Howell had a big day for Fairland, recording a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end.
“They came out with a lot of energy and had more energy than we did at the beginning of the game,” Coal Grove head coach Kevin Vanderhoof said.
“The Howell kid was the big difference I thought. We don’t match up well with them size wise, but I’m proud of our guys. I thought we played hard.”
Fairland was able to use a full-court press to create Hornets’ turnovers all game, and climbed out to a 24-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Eight different Hornets scored for Coal Grove, who outscored Fairland 11-8 in the second quarter, led by Cory Borders, who scored eight points, including two triples, to go along with three boards. Jordan Case recorded six points and four rebounds and Mark Sites chipped in five points and four boards for the Hornets.
Coal Grove went into halftime trailing 32-16.
Howell was one of four Dragons to reach double figures in scoring, including Gunner Short with 13 points, Kollin Van Horn with 12 points and five rebounds and Luke Thomas with 10 points and three boards. Ty Staten also added four points and six rebounds for the Dragons.
“I think we played really hard. We played well defensively in the half court, and our rotations were good in the press, which forced a lot of turnovers that way,” Fairland head coach Nathan Speed said.
“Once they went to man defensively, we could have adjusted a little better. We weren’t screening, cutting or moving well, but after a couple minutes we adjusted.”
Fairland poured it on after halftime, outscoring Coal Grove 19-9 in the third quarter and 15-8 in the final period to seal the win.
The size of Fairland showed on the glass, as the Dragons outrebounded the Hornets 36-27. As a team, Fairland recorded 14 steals and 10 assists as well, compared to four steals and five assists for the Hornets.
Coal Grove (9-15) also committed twice the amount of fouls as the Dragons, racking up 20 compared to nine from the Dragons.
“We need to work on adjusting from going against a zone to a man defense offensively going into the next round,” Speed said. “But I’m proud of our effort.”
With the win, Fairland (21-1) takes on the winner of Piketon and Eastern Brown at the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens.
Coal Grove    5    11    9    8    =    33
Fairland    24    8    19    15     =    66
COAL GROVE (9-15): Aaron Music 1 0 0-0 2, Jordan Case 2 0 2-2 6, Mark Sites 1 1 0-0 5, Jaylen McKenzie 1 0 0-1 2, Jeb Jones 1 0 0-2 4, Cory Borders 1 2 0-0 8, Evan Gannon 0 1 0-1 3, Nate Harmon 0 0 0-0 0, Alijah Roman 1 0 1-2 3, Damian Jiles 0 0 0-0 0, Trey Hicks 0 0 0-0 0. Fouls: 11 Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (21-1): Ty Staten 1 0 2-2 4, Luke Thomas 1 2 2-4 10, Isaiah Howell 7 2 0-0 20, Kollin Van Horn 5 0 2-3 12, Gunner Short 6 0 1-6 13, Keedrick Cunningham 2 0 0-0 4, Joel Lambiotte 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Mondlak 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Fisher 0 0 0-0 0, Darius Stapleton 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Gartin 0 1 0-0 3, Reilly Sowards 0 0 0-0 0, Ian Chinn 0 0 0-0 0, Andy Lange 0 0 0-0 0. Fouls: 11 Fouled out: none.