WELLSTON - David Bayless was quiet for most of the game. But when he decided to make some noise, it was deafening.

Bayless scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the South Gallia Rebels past the Symmes Valley Vikings 69-59 Friday in the Division IV sectional championship.

"We just missed too many shots," coach Alvin Carpenter said of the Vikings 26 for 80 shooting performance. "We cut our turnovers down, but we still had 16 of them and that hurt us, too."

Chase Higgins and Kyle Meadows scored 16 points each to lead the Vikings who finished 10-11. Meadows also had 10 rebounds and John Wiseman grabbed 8. Justin Holland had 4 assists and 4 steals.

Bayless was one of four Rebels in double figures. Curt Waugh scored 14, Gerald Cade 12 and Josh Wright 13.

Higgins scored 8 points in the first quarter as the Vikings took a 16-15 lead. Wright matched Higgins with 8 points for South Gallia.

Justin Ferguson hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter for the Vikings but the Rebels managed to take a 31-30 halftime lead.

Symmes Valley came back with a balanced offense in the third quarter and took a 47-45 lead.

Meadows got 8 points in the fourth quarter for the Vikings, but Bayless found the hot hand

as he drained four 3-pointers and the Rebels outscored the Vikings 24-12 to rally for the win.

"If it hadn't been for four minutes in the fourth quarter, I wouldn't have known (Bayless) was even on the team," Carpenter said. "He got hot and we couldn't cool him off."

South Gallia will play South Webster in the district tournament at 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Ohio University.

Sym. Valley16141712=59

South Gallia15161424=69

SYMMES VALLEY (10-11):

Craig Neal 2 1 1-4 8, Cory Burcham 2 1 1-1 9, Chase Higgins 8 0 0-3 16, Justin Ferguson 0 2 0-0 6, Kyle Meadows 8 0 0-2 16, Matt Owens 0 1 0-0 3, John Wiseman 1 0 0-0 2, Tyler Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Justin Holland 0 0 0-0 0, Alex Burnett 0 0 0-0 0, Kirt Shipley. Totals: 26-80

(5-21)

2-10

59. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 42 (Meadows 10, Wiseman 8). Steals: 11 (Holland 4, Smith 3). Assists: 11 (Holland 4, Shipley 3). Turnovers: 16. FG% -32.5. FT% – 20. 3pt% – 23.8.

SOUTH GALLIA (16-5):

Bennie Fulks 2 0 3-3 7, Gerald Cade 4 1 1-5 12, Curt Waugh 4 0 6-10 14, David Bayless 0 4 2-2 18, Josh Wright 3 2 1-2 13, Josh Skidmore 1 0 1-1 3, Paul Combs 0 0 2-2 2. Totals: 16

(7)

16-25

69. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.