PEDRO – Forget the aspirin.

Saturday, February 17, 2001

PEDRO – Forget the aspirin. That pounding isn’t inside your head.

The "pounding" is caused by the Coal Grove Hornets, pounding the ball on the dribble as they wait for the right moment, then pounding the ball inside to Joe Sark, Ryan Young, or Jason Adams.

That formula worked for the Hornets Friday night as they beat the Rock Hill Redmen 58-47 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

"The things that pleased me is we were more patient with our shot selection and to try and pound it more inside," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said. "We had eight shots outside the paint all night and they had trouble guarding us."

Jason Winters scored 17 points and had six rebounds while Sark scored 16 and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds as Coal Grove (8-11, 2-6 OVC) snapped a five-game losing streak.

Young had 10 points and five rebounds despite sitting out most of the first half in foul trouble and Adams chipped in nine points and seven rebounds.

"Joe Sark is the most improved player in the league from last year. He’s played really well the last month," said Humphreys. "Winters stepped up and played well, and Beau Webb had only one point but played great defense."

Rock Hill (5-15, 1-7) was led by Robbie McClellan with 18 points and Isaac Kitchen with 14. Leading scorer David Schug played off-and-on despite his injured shoulder and managed only four points.

Sark got five points the first quarter as Coal Grove took a 13-6 lead. Winters had six points the second quarter as the Hornets extended the lead to 26-13.

Sark came back to get six points in the third quarter and the lead was 41-27. McClellan had eight points for the Redmen.

The Hornets led by as many as 17 the fourth quarter, but they made just 5-of-14 from the line and Kitchen had 10 points as Rock Hill closed the gap.

"Give Rock Hill credit. (Coach) Marty (Mills) has done a great job. They’re well-coached and they play hard," said Humphreys.

The Hornets hosted Northwest Saturday night.

In the reserve game, Coal Grove (9-8) won 27-13 as Darius Porter scored 10 points and Justin Gibson and Paul Rockell six. Allen Jenkins had four for Rock Hill.

Coal Grove 13 13 15 17 – 58

Rock Hill 6 7 14 20 – 47

COAL GROVE (8-11, 2-6): Jason Winters 5 1 4-6 17, Joe Sark 5 0 6-9 16, Ryan Young 4 0 2-5 10, Eric Tackett 0 0 3-4 3, Jason Adams 4 0 1-3 9, Beau Webb 0 0 1-2 1, Justin Gibson 0 0 1-4 1. Totals: 20-51 (1) 18-33 58. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 14-19=33 (Sark 12, Adams 7, Winters 6, Young 5). Assists: 13 (Adams 3, Young 3). Steals: 10 (Adams 4, Winters 2, Young 2). Blocked shots: Sark 2. Turnovers: 8.

ROCK HILL (5-15, 1-7): Isaac Kitchen 3 2 2-3 14, Rickie McDonie 2 0 0-0 4, Robbie McClellan 6 2 1-1 18, Gabe Ruggles 0 0 1-4 1, David Martin 3 0 0-2 6, David Schug 1 0 2-2 4, Roger Joseph 0 0 0-0 0, Donald Cade 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 4 6-12 47. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: McClellan.