to stay unbeaten in OVC

By JIM WALKER/Tribune Sports Editor

PEDRO — Maybe the “D” in Dragons really stands for “defense.”

Led by the defensive efforts of Jacob Lucas and Zach Jordan, the Fairland Dragons clamped down on the Rock Hill Redmen 60-50 Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“Jake Lucas was on (Matt) Matney and that was one of the keys. We knew (Nathan) Davenport would get his points, but we didn’t want (Matney) to go off on us,” Fairland coach Chad Belville said.

“Zach Jordan also did a good job for us. (Mike) Ison can hit the 3s and Zach made sure he didn’t get any of them off.”

Cole Hatfield led the Fairland offense with 19 points despite sitting out most of the first half in foul trouble. Michael Lamb had 17 points and 8 rebounds and Dustin Bumgardner also had 8 boards.

Mark DePriest topped Rock Hill (2-5, 0-2) with 13 points, 9 in the first half. Davenport had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“We’ve got to get more consistent. We’re getting better. We didn’t play a great game, but we had a very good effort. We shot well from the field, so when you look at that aspect, we executed pretty well offensively and we had a couple of great defensive efforts,” Belville said.

Hatfield scored 7 points in the first quarter as Fairland took a 17-13 lead.

With Hatfield in foul trouble, Lamb picked up the slack and scored 11 points in the second quarter including a pair of 3-pointers as the lead went to 31-24 at the break.

Rock Hill got within 27-24 just before the half, but Zach Ferguson got 4 points on an inbounds play layup and two free throws.

“When you get the seventh or eighth man contributing, that’s a big boost. It gave us a lot of momentum,” Belville said.

Fairland built a 46-36 lead at the end of the third quarter as Hatfield and Lamb combined for 9 of 15 points in the stanza.

The Dragons made just 2 of 5 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter but converted 10 of 13 free throws over the final three minutes to clinch the win.

“We have to do a better job of finishing games and taking care f the basketball,” Belvill said.

Rock Hill was without starter Andrew Stumbo who missed the game with an illness.

Rock Hill13111214=50

Fairland17141514=60

ROCK HILL (2-5, 0-2):

Wes Pierson 1-3 2-3 1-2 9, Nathan Davenport 5-12 0-2 2-3 12, Matt Matney 2-13 0-1 2-2 6, Mark DePriest 5-0 0-1 3-6 13, Mike Ison 2-3 0-0 1-1 5, Aaron Butler 1-7 1-3 0-0 3, Tyler Kirkpatrick 0-1 0-0 0-0 0. Total: 19-58

9-14

50. 3-point goals: 3-10. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Ison. Rebounds: 22 (Davenport 11). Turnovers: 17.

FAIRLAND (4-3, 2-0): Zach Jordan 1-3 0-0 4-4 6, Cole Hatfield 5-7 1-4 6-8 19, Jacob Lucas 2-7 1-1 2-3 9, Zach Ferguson 1-1 0-0 2-2 4, Michael Lamb 5-10 2-4 1-2 17, Dustin Bumgardner 2-3 0-0 1-2 5, Ryan Dunn 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Bloomfield 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Kersey 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Long 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Hatfield 0-1 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 20-42

16-21 . 3-point goals: 4-10. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 32 (Lamb 8, Bumgardner 8). Assists: 11 (Jordan 5). Turnovers: 18.