COAL GROVE - Good start, bad finish.

The Coal Grove Hornets jumped out to an early lead, but squandered scoring chances down the stretch and fell 74-71 to the River Valley Raiders Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

"The first five minutes of the game we played as well as we can play. But when you mix poor rebounding, poor foul shooting and poor ballhandling, that's not a recipe for success," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said.

Tommy Pemberton and Jimmy Lemon combined for nine points in the first quarter as Coal Grove took a 16-10 lead. Steven Harder had six for the Raiders.

Daniel Berry and Harder scored four points each in the second quarter as River Valley rallied to tie the game at the half, 28-28.

Jared Swain scored 14 of his points in the third quarter as the Raiders took a 55-50 lead. Justin Hyland had five points to keep the Hornets close.

But Harder scored six points in the fourth quarter to help offset five points each by Brandon Rymer and Pemberton as the Raiders held on for the win.

"Evan Melvin and Randy Wise gave us a nice lift in the fourth quarter and helped us climb back in it," Humphreys said.

"But we just got whipped on the boards. I can't even guess how many points they got on third and fourth chances. Despite the way we played, we still had our chances to win at the end of the game."

River Valley was 22 of 30 from the line, but just 6 of 13 in the final stanza. Coal Grove converted just 16 of 28 free throws.

"That's the ball game," Humphreys said.

Pemberton scored 16 points, Rymer 12 and Lemon 10 for the Hornets (4-5, 0-3 OVC).

Harder finished with a game-high 21 points, Swain 17 and Colby Reese added 11.

In the reserve game, Coal Grove won 57-33 as J.D. Elswick scored 15 points and Randy Wise 14.

River Valley10182719-74

Coal Grove16122221-71

RIVER VALLEY (2-6, 2-2):

Chris Roush 2 0 2-5 6, Daniel Berry 1 0 2-2 4, Darren Clark 2 0 3-4 7, Derrick Smith 1 0 1-3 3, Jared Swain 6 1 2-2 17, Colby Reese 3 0 5-6 11, Trace Fraley 1 1 0-0 5, Steven Harder 8 0 5-10 21. Totals: 24

(2)

22-30

74. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Reese.

COAL GROVE (4-5, 0-3):

Shane Bridges 4 0 1-3 9, Brandon Rymer 3 2 0-0 12, Evan Melvin 2 0 0-0 4, Justin Hyland 2 0 6-9 10, Randy Wise 0 0 5-8 5, Tyler Sexton 1 0 3-6 5, Tom Pemberton 6 1 1-2 16, Jimmy Lemon 5 0 0-0 10. Totals: 23

(3)

16-28

71. Fouls: 28. Fouled out: Hyland, Rymer.