CHESHIRE – Maybe you don’t have to guard it with your life, but it is important to take very good care of the basketball.

The South Point Pointers took a “handle with care” approach Friday night as they knocked off the River Valley Raiders 63-50 in a key Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We took care of the ball and didn’t throw it way unnecessarily. We ran our offense and got some decent looks and that was the name of the game,” Pointers coach Gary Norris said.

South Point is now 7-2 and 3-0 in the OVC and setting up another first-place matchup on Tuesday when they host 3-0 Fairland. River Valley falls to 6-3 and 2-1.

“We took care of the ball and didn’t throw it way unnecessarily. We ran our offense and got some decent looks and that was the name of the game,” Pointers coach Gary Norris said.

Chase McWhorter scored 20 points and pulled down 8 rebounds to lead the Pointers. Chris Brown had 17 points, 4 assists and 3 steals while Beau Weed added 11 points, 6 assists and 3 steals.

McWhorter 8 in fourth, Brown 8 in third, Brown 5 of 6 FT in fourth.

Jason Jones led the Raiders with 17 points. Ryan Morrow scored 10.

“We had to keep Jones under control and not let him go off on us,” Norris said. “He only got five points in the second half, so we did a better job on him and we controlled the speed of the game.”

Jones scored 12 points in the first half but the Pointers still held a 31-20 lead.

Brown got 8 points in the third quarter as the lead held firm at 46-35.

McWhorter scored 8 points in the fourth quarter and Brown converted 5 of 6 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the win.

South Point17141517=63

River Valley8121515=50

SOUTH POINT (7-2, 3-0): Chris Brown 1 3 6-8 17, Heath Bridges 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Hughes 1 0 0-0 2, Beau Weed 5 0 1-1 11, Zach Woody 1 0 1-2 3, Joey Stephens 4 0 2-6 10, Chase McWhorter 7 2 0-1 20. Totals: 19

5

10-18

63. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 10.

RIVER VALLEY (6-3, 2-1): Jason Jones 2 3 4-4 17, Ryan Morrow 3 1 1-3 10, Ryan Eggleton 1 1 0-0 5, Tyler Thompson 4 0 0-1 8, Ryan Henry 0 0 1-2 1, Marcus Frazier 0 1 2-2 5, Ian Lewis 1 0 0-0 2, Zak Deel 1 0 0-0 2, Michael Cordell 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12

6

8-12

50. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.