South Point cruises in OVC; Panthers to HSJ

Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 6, 2002

COAL GROVE – South Point Pointers coach Mark Lafon wasn’t very happy after the first half.

Sunday, January 06, 2002

COAL GROVE – South Point Pointers coach Mark Lafon wasn’t very happy after the first half. That changed the third quarter.

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After giving up 32 points the first half, South Point limited Coal Grove to eight points the third quarter and went on to post an 88-58 win over the Hornets Friday in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

"I wasn’t happy with what we did defensively. We had 46 points which is a pace to get 100, but we’d given up 32," Lafon said. "But the third quarter we did come out and play some defense. We played well defensively."

The offense was productive the entire game led by senior Shane Holsinger who scored 29 points including four 3-point goals.

Justin Eaches had 14 points and 11 assists while Bryan Maggard got 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Jimmy Lemon and Justin Gibson scored 10 points each to lead the Hornets (2-7).

Gibson scored seven points and helped trigger a 7-0 run that had the Hornets down just 18-17 before South Point pulled away to a 23-17 first quarter lead.

Holsinger scored 11 points the second quarter as the Pointers pulled away to a 46-32 halftime lead. Holsinger, Eaches, and Seth Craft all hit 3-pointers in a 13-0 spurt that helped open up the close game.

Then came the third quarter. A 3-pointer by J. J. Hunt got Coal Grove within 46-35, but then South Point began to dominate play including a 21-0 streak to end the quarter for a 76-40 lead.

"We started pressuring them more and we got a lot of turnovers that we were able to turn into baskets," Lafon said.

On Tuesday, South Point is at Huntington St. Joe in a non-league game and Coal Grove travels to Fairland for an OVC contest.

Coal Grove 17 15 8 18 – 58

South Point 23 23 30 12 – 88

COAL GROVE (2-7, 0-1): Shane Bridges 0 1 2-2 5, Zach Nance 2 0 2-2 6, J. J. Hunt 1 1 3-4 8, Tim Elliott 1 0 3-4 5, Justin Gibson 3 0 4-6 10, Caleb Potter 2 0 1-2 5, Brandon Waller 2 1 0-0 7, Tommy Pemberton 1 0 0-0 2, Jimmy Lemon 4 0 2-2 10. Totals: 16 3 17-25 58. Fouls: 27. Fouled out: Elliott, Gibson, Waller, Lemon. Rebounds: 25. Assists: 11. Turnovers: 26.

SOUTH POINT (4-3, 1-0): Donte Pennington 2 0 0-4 4, Justin Eaches 2 2 4-6 14, Josh Tibbetts 0 0 1-2 1, Adam Workman 2 0 1-1 5, Shane Holsinger 7 4 3-5 29, Patrick McCleary 1 0 0-0 2, Saul Thompson 2 0 2-5 6, Bryan Maggard 5 0 4-6 14, Jonathan Green 2 1 0-0 7, Seth Craft 1 2 0-0 8, Clifton Lovejoy 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 9 15-29 88. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 29 (Maggard 10). Assists: 21 (Eaches 11). Turnovers: 22.

Chesapeake 48, Hunt. St. Joe 41

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Tough place. Tough team. Well, then get tough.

The Chesapeake Panthers had to toughen up Friday night as they came up with a 48-41 road win over the veteran Huntington St. Joe Fighting Irish.

"This is one of the toughest places to play around. It’s not easy there and they’re not a bad team. They have all five starters back from last year," Chesapeake coach Norm Persin said. "

Matt Rucker had 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Panthers to their fourth straight win.

Brad Fulton added nine points, Tommy Hill had three assists, and Nick Karle got two steals.

St. Joe was led by Monroe Myers with 11 points. Major Thomas and Adam Reynolds added eight points each.

Chesapeake climbed out in front 12-4 to start the game and led 12-6 at the end of the quarter.

The Irish cut the deficit to 21-17 at the half despite Rucker who scored eight of the Panthers nine points the second quarter.

"We had good shots and took good percentage shots, but we just didn’t hit them," Persin said.

The Panthers were up just 34-33, but some clutch plays down the stretch enabled the Panthers to pull out the victory.

Chesapeake hosts Rock Hill Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Chesapeake 12 9 13 14 – 48

Hunt. St. Joe 6 11 16 8 – 41

CHESAPEAKE (5-3): Adam Skeens 0 , Aaron Gossett 2 0 3-4 7, Nick Karle 4 0 0-2 8, Timmy Thacker 2 0 0-0 4, Brad Fulton 3 0 3-4 9, Tommie Hill 1 0 1-1 3, Matt Rucker 6 0 5-9 17. Totals: 18 0 12-20 48. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 32 (Rucker 15). Turnovers: 13. Assists: 11 (Hill 3). Steals: 8 (Karle 2).

HUNTINGTON ST. JOSEPH: Jamie Powell 0 0 0-0 0, Major Thomas 4 0 0-1 8, Adam Reynolds 2 0 4-6 8, Mark Houvouras 2 0 1-2 5, Jeff Wray 1 0 1-1 3, Monroe Myers 5 0 1-2 11, Brian Ferguson 3 0 0-3 6. Totals: 17 0 7-15 41. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Ferguson.