SOUTH WEBSTER – It’s been a good year for the South Point Pointers and things got a whole lot better Friday night.

Sunday, February 24, 2002

SOUTH WEBSTER – It’s been a good year for the South Point Pointers and things got a whole lot better Friday night.

The Pointers improved to 13-8 as they beat the Rock Hill Redmen 51-35 and won the Division III sectional tournament to earn a berth in the district next Sunday at 3 p.m. at Ohio University.

The win avenged last week’s loss to Rock Hill that cost the Pointers a chance at sharing the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

South Point coach Mark Lafon said winning the sectional was a feather in the cap for his senior class.

"I didn’t care how we won just as long as we won," Lafon said. "I’m proud of these kids. We were so close to winning something this year, and we finally got it. There’s been a lot of pressure on these kids. The last three years we’ve gone one and out (in the tournament)."

Shane Holsinger, who eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring mark earlier this season, led the Pointers with 31 points. Bryan Maggard grabbed 14 rebounds and Donte Pennington had six steals.

South Point had 16 steals for the game as they forced 24 turnovers, 15 the first half. However, the Pointers were guilty of 27 turnovers, 19 the second half and 11 the fourth quarter.

"The first half was as good as I’ve seen a team play defense. Ever," Lafon said. "The Third quarter was pretty good, too, and then the fourth quarter was scary. We tried to slow it down, run sets, speed it up, call time outs. We tried everything."

Rock Hill was led by David Schug with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Isaac Kitchen added nine points and Robbie McClellan eight.

The turnover problem cause Rock Hill to get off only three shots the second quarter. After beating the press the third quarter, the Redmen failed to connect on all 11 field goal attempts.

"We played hard, but we had silly little turnovers to start the game," Redmen coach Marty Mills said. "We had good looks at the basket, we just couldn’t make a basket. The first and second quarters we rushed ourselves."

Schug made a foul shot to start the game for 1-0 lead, but it was Rock Hill’s only lead the entire game.

A series of missed shots and turnovers created a four-minute scoring draught until Holsinger’s 15-footer at the 2:20 mark broke the spell and put South Point up 8-3. Schug’s 3-pointer made it 8-6 at the end of the quarter.

With Rock Hill unable to get off a shot, Holsinger had eight points the second quarter as South Point pulled away to a 26-9 halftime lead.

Neither team was able to score the third quarter as South Point went ahead 35-12. The scoring picked up the fourth quarter as the Pointers began to turn the ball over, but the Redmen never got closer than 36-23 on a foul shot by Kitchen with 5:21 to play.

Rock Hill finished the season 13-8 after just five wins last year.

"Last year to this year was like day and night. These kids battled all year and I expect them to get better," said Mills.

Rock Hill 6 3 3 23 – 35

South Point 8 18 9 16 – 51

ROCK HILL (13-8): Isaac Kitchen 1-12 (0-5) 7-10 9, Ryan Townsend 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0, Robbie McClellan 4-10 (0-2) 0-1 8, Roger Joseph 0-0 (0-0) 1-4 1, David Schug 4-11 (3-5) 2-4 13, George Mullins 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Rickie McDonie 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Mitchell Kerns 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1, Donald Cade 1-2 (0-0) 1-3 3. Totals: 10-41 (3-14) 12-14 35. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: McClellan (0:59 4th). Rebounds: 2-23=25 (Schug 11, Kitchen 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 4 (Townsend 2). Steals: 4 (4 with one each). Turnovers: 24. FG% – 24.4. FT% – 85.7. 3pt% – 21.4.

SOUTH POINT (13-8): Donte Pennington 3-4 (0-0) 0-0 6, Justin Eaches 1-9 (0-4) 3-4 5, Shane Holsinger 7-15 (2-2) 15-20 31, Bryan Maggard 3-6 (0-0) 0-0 6, Jonathan Green 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Saul Thompson 0-1 (0-0) 1-2 1, Seth Craft 1-1 (0-0) 0-2 2, Adam Workman 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Josh Tibbetts 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Clifton Lovejoy 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 15-39 (2-7) 19-28 51. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-30=36 (Maggard 14, Eaches 5, Holsinger 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 4 (Eaches 3). Steals: 16 (Pennington 6, Workman 3, Eaches 3). Turnovers: 27. FG% – 38.5. FT% – 67.9. 3pt% – 28.6.