PEDRO - Just a typical Coal Grove-Rock Hill game.

The heated Ohio Valley Conference rivalry continued to be a bitter battle as the Coal Grove Hornets squeezed past the Rock Hill Redmen 60-57 in overtime Thursday.

"It doesn't matter how good either one of us is, it's a nailbiter. It's what you expect in a rivalry," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said. "Rock Hill played hard. Coach (Marty) Mills does a nice job. We were lucky to pull that one out."

A key for Coal Grove was its bench players who outscored Rock Hill's bench 21-3 including Adam Bare who led the Hornets with 15 points.

"Before the game, I stressed we had to win the matchups off the bench," Humphreys said. "Adam Bare and the Melvin twins played well."

Randy Wise and Zach Huber scored 11 points each, Justin Hyland had 10 points and Jim Lemon grabbed 11 rebounds for the Hornets.

"We didn't play well, but our rebounding

edge allowed us to stay in the game," Humphreys said.

K.C. Christian had a career-high 30 points to lead the Redmen (3-5, 0-3). Mark DePriest added 12 points.

The game was 8-8 after the first quarter, but Christian pumped in 10 points in the second quarter as Rock Hill took a 24-21 halftime lead.

Bare scored 5 points and Matt Melvin and Lemon 4 each to keep the Hornets close.

Christian knocked down 11 more points in the third quarter, but Zach Huber nailed a pair of 3-pointers to get the Hornets within 39-38.

"Lemon did a good job passing the ball. Zach Huber stepped up an played well for us. He had some timely shooting for us," Humphreys said. "Christian had a good game for them. We didn't have any answers for him."

The Hornets tied the game 51-51 at the end of regulation, and then Wise was 5 of 8 from the foul line in the overtime as the Hornets took the lead and held on for the win.

Coal Grove is now 5-3 overall but 3-0 in the OVC, one-half game ahead of Chesapeake. Rock Hill falls to 3-5 and 0-3.

Coal Grove81317139-60

Rock Hill81615126-57

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

Zach Huber 1 3 0-3 11, Matt Melvin 3 0 0-2 6, Evan Melvin 0 0 0-0 0, Justin Hyland 4 0 2-4 10, Randy Wise 0 2 5-8 11, Tyler Sexton 0 0 0-2 0, Jim Lemon 1 0 5-6 7, Adam Bare 7 0 1-3 15. Totals: 16

5

13-28

60. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Huber. Rebounds: 11-18=29 (Lemon 11, Hyland 9). Steals: 9 (Hyland 3, Huber 3). Assists: 7 (Lemon 3, Wise 2). Blocked shots: 2 (Sexton, Bare). Turnovers: 22.

ROCK HILL (3-5, 0-3): K.C. Christian 8 2 8-14 30, Artie Mullins 0 0 1-2 1, Brian Skaggs 1 0 0-0 2, Mark DePriest 6 0 0-1 12, Andrew Stumbo 0 0 1-3 1, Mike Ison 3 1 0-3 9, Aaron Butler 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19

3

10-23

57. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: DePriest.