COAL GROVE — It seems like the Coal Grove Hornets bring out the best in their opponents.

The Oak Hill Oaks jumped out to a big first quarter lead and then fought off a charge by the Hornets to beat Coal Grove 68-54 Tuesday.

“We got buried early again. For whatever reasons, teams just stroke it against us. We have three people in their face and they still hit the shots,” Hornets coach Mike Waller said.

“We battled back and played hard, but Oak Hill hit a couple of run outs and we never got in a good rhythm.”

Oak Hill got off to a 21-7 first quarter lead as Cory Farmer scored nine of his 10 points while Garland Stiltner and Brandon Potts added five each.

Coal Grove held Oak Hill to only four points in the second quarter and closed the gap to 25-19 at the break.

Coal Grove cut the deficit to 43-38 at the end of the third quarter as Adam Bare scored eight points and Randy Wise seven to outscore the Oaks 19-18. J.D. Hale had nine points to help the Oaks keep the lead.

Stiltner got hot again and scored 12 points as Oak Hill built a 20-point lead with three minutes to play.

Waller emptied his bench and Chris Dirling hit three 3-pointers for the Hornets.

“Oak Hill is drastically improved from the past few years. They have some size and they shot the ball well. Give them credit,” Waller said.

Stiltner led the Oaks (2-3) with 23 points. Hale had 16 points and Farmer 10.

Adam Bare had 17 points and 11 rebounds to pace Coal Grove (2-5). Wise added 12 points.

Coal Grove plays at Northwest Friday.

Oak Hill2141825=68

Coal Grove7121916=54

OAK HILL (2-3): Garland Stiltner 8 2 1-4 23, Cory Farmer 4 0 2-3 10, Brandon Potts 1 1 2-2 7, Matt Crabtree 2 0 3-5 7, J.D. Hale 6 1 1-2 16, Garrett Davis 2 0 1-1 5. Totals: xx. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Crabtree.

COAL GROVE (2-5): Zach Murphy 1 0 1-2 3, Chris Dirling 0 3 0-0 9, Matt Melvin 3 0 0-0 6, Randy Wise 2 2 2-3 12, Tyler Branch 3 0 0-0 6, Tyler Allen 0 0 1-2 1, Adam Bare 5 0 7-10 17, Zach Slone 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14

5

11-17

54. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Bare. Rebounds: 24 (Bare 11).