COAL GROVE - Coach Darrell Humphreys wanted the spurt to hurt.

Sensing a spurt was about to happen, Humphreys urged his Coal Grove Hornets to be the team that produced the sudden surge.

The Hornets did just that as they blew open a close game late in the first half and went on to beat the Oak Hill Oaks 61-45 Tuesday.

"We hit a nice spurt before the half. We got refocused. We said one of the teams will make a run before the half, and we wanted to make sure it was us," Humphreys said. "It got us a cushion to work with the rest of the night.

Tommy Pemberton had five points and Tyler Sexton came off the bench to score four more as Coal Grove opened the game with a 13-4 run. But Matt Boggs scored six points and Mattia Bianchi had five as Oak Hill came back to tie the game at 17-17.

Brandon Rymer had eight points including a pair of foul shots due to a technical, and Jimmy Lemon scored six more as Coal Grove hit the predicted spurt and pulled away to a 39-26 halftime lead.

"We played pretty sharp early. We could have played better overall," Humphreys said.

Justin Hyland scored seven points and Pemberton six in the third quarter as the lead went to 54-40.

The Hornets converted only one of five free throws in the fourth quarter, but the defense limited the Oaks to five points and Coal Grove came away with the easy win.

Hyland and Pemberton scored 13 points each to lead four players in double figures for Coal Grove. Rymer scored 12 points and Lemon added 10.

"We had good balance," Humphreys said. "Justin (Hyland) and Jimmy (Lemon) and Tommy (Pemberton) did a real nice job on the boards. If we hit a few more shots in the paint, we could have stretch the margin a little more."

Bianchi scored 15 and Boggs 13 to lead the Oaks.

In the reserve game, Coal Grove (4-0) won 65-17 as Matt Melvin scored 17 and J.D. Elswick 15.

Oak Hill179145-45

Coal Grove1722157-61

OAK HILL: Eric Evans 0 0 1-2 1, Nick Wright 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Boggs 4 1 2-2 13, Ryan Yerian 0 0 0-1 0, Mark Dunn 3 0 0-0 6, Andy Elcess 2 0 2-2 6, Battia Bianchi 5 1 2-5 15, Ryan Somsel 0 0 0-0 0, Andy Rainer 1 0 0-0 2, Matt Crabtree 0 0 2-2 2. Totals: 13

2

9-14

45. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (2-2):

Shane Bridges 2 0 0-0 4, Brandon Rymer 5 0 2-2 12, Justin Hyland 4 0 5-7 13, Tom Pemberton 5 0 3-6 13, Jim Lemon 4 0 2-3 10, Aaron Fields 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Tackett 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Melvin 0 0 0-0 0, Randy Wise 1 0 1-2 3, Jim Hankins 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Huber 1 0 0-2 2, Tyler Sexton 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 24

0

14-20

61. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.