PROCTORVILLE – It was a matter of being in control.

Monday, January 14, 2002

PROCTORVILLE – It was a matter of being in control. And in the end, the South Point Pointers had the win and control of their destiny in the Ohio Valley Conference race.

South Point survived a missed 3-point shot at the buzzer to escape the Fairland Dragons with a 71-68 win Friday and remain unbeaten in the OVC.

"When they controlled the tempo, they had the lead. When we got the tempo in our favor, we got the lead," Pointers coach Mark Lafon said. "It was a war and I told our players before the game that it was going to be a war. Fairland has a nice team."

Shane Holsinger scored 26 points to lead the Pointers and is now just two points shy of 1,000 points for his career. Justin Eaches drained five 3-pointers and scored 19 points while Bryan Maggard added 11 points.

Fairland was led by Dru Brooks with 23 points. Chris Dinwiddie had 16 points and Darren Colburn scored 12 points, all in the second half.

"We were contesting Brooks, but he just knocked them down," Lafon said.

South Point was up 13-10 after the first quarter, but Fairland came back to go ahead 28-22. Holsinger hit a pair of jumpers to get the Pointers within 28-26 at the end of the half.

With Eaches making 3-of-4 from behind the arc the second half, the Pointers trailed just 48-47.

"Eaches got us going. He did for us what Brooks did for them the first half," Lafon said.

Colburn scored eight points the fourth quarter, but six different Pointers scored including Holsinger who had eight and South Point rallied for the win.

"Donte had a couple of big rebounds, and Maggard hit a big 3-pointer. Everyone contributed the fourth quarter," Lafon said. "Fairland plays good defense. They’re always going to contest the shot."

Fairland had a chance to tie the game, but Brad Taliaferro took a 3-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off the rim.

On Tuesday, South Point plays at Chesapeake Tuesday in a battle for first place in the OVC. Fairland hosts Ironton St. Joe in a non-league game.

South Point 13 13 21 24 – 71

Fairland 10 18 20 20 – 68

SOUTH POINT (5-4, 2-0): Donte Pennington 2 0 0-4 4, Justin Eaches 2 5 0-0 19, Adam Workman 0 2 0-0 6, Shane Holsinger 12 0 2-4 26, Saul Thompson 1 0 0-1 2, Bryan Maggard 4 1 0-0 11, Seth Craft 1 0 1-2 3, Jonathan Green 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 8 3-11 71. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (5-5, 2-1): Darren Colburn 6 0 0-1 12, Dru Brooks 4 4 3-5 23, Chris Dinwiddie 4 2 2-3 16, Brad Taliaferro 2 0 0-2 4, Michael Hill 2 1 0-1 7, Glen Chapman 3 0 0-0 6, Ryan White 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 7 6-12 68. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.