HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Silence is golden.

Fairland was able to keep Shawn Gilkerson’s scoring quiet long enough to build a lead and the Dragons held on for a 65-60 win over the Pioneers Wednesday in the semifinals of the 30th annual Huntington St. Joseph Invitational.

Gilkerson scored 26 points, but he was shut down by Jordan Kersey long enough in the fourth quarter to allow the Dragons to get the lead.

“A big key in the fourth quarter was putting Jordan Kersey on Gilkerson and we had a stretch where (Gilkerson) just didn’t score and it allowed us to build an 11-point lead and we held on,” Fairland coach Chad Belville said.

Fairland (8-4) took an 18-14 lead in the first quarter by shooting 8 of 17 from the field. Michael Lamb had 7 points, Jacob Lucas 5 and Dustin Bumgardner 4.

Wayne cut a point off the lead to trail 30-27 at the break and Gilkerson erupted for 10 points in the third quarter to tie the game at 44-44.

“Gilkerson just got hot on us,” Belville said.

But Lamb had 10 of his points in the fourth quarter and Cole Hatfield and Lucas got 4 each as Fairland began to pull away.

“We said, ‘Look, we’ve played with very little emotion. I don’t know what it was but we weren’t in sync. We told them it was time to step up,” Belville said.

“Michael got a lot of his points in transition. We did a good job of running.”

Lamb finished with 23 points and 8 rebounds. Hatfield had 14 points, 9 assists and 7 steals.

Gilkerson was the only player in double figures for the Pioneers (4-7).

Despite the win, Belville wasn’t very pleased.

“My biggest concern right now is we’re not playing well defensively,” Belville said. “We need to play better halfcourt defense. We have to get better defensively and we can’t go 16-for-32 at the foul line.”

Fairland will play Chesapeake at 9 p.m. Friday in the championship game. Wayne faces St. Joseph in the consolation game at 7 p.m.

Wayne14131716=60

Fairland18121421=65

WAYNE (4-7): Joey Ferguson 1-1 2-2 4-6 12, Josh Meddings 2-5 0-0 0-0 4, Shawn Gilkerson 12-19 0-1 2-6 26, Jeremy Maynard 2-4 0-0 0-0 4, Cory Perry 3-7 0-0 2-2 8, Neil Dillon 1-4 0-4 2-2 4, Aaron Napier 0-0 0-0 0-0, Brandon Sutherland 1-3 0-0 0-0 2. Totals: 22-43

2-7

10-18

60. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Gilkerson. Rebounds: 8-23=31 (Ferguson 6, Meddings 6). Assists 13 (Ferguson 5). Turnovers 20. Blocked shots: Maynard. Steals: 9 (Ferguson 3).

FAIRLAND (8-4): Zach Jordan 0-0 0-0 2-2 2, Cole Hatfield 6-11 0-2 2-4 14, Jacob Lucas 3-5 1-3 0-3 9, Michael Lamb 9-15 0-0 5-8 23, Dustin Bumgardner 3-5 0-0 1-3 7, Matt Bloomfield 1-1 0-0 4-6 6, Jordan Kersey 0-0 0-1 1-2 1, Ethan Long 0-1 0-0 1-4 1, Caleb Hatfield 1-3 0-1 0-0 2, Zach Ferguson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-41

1-7

16-32

65. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

Rebounds: 8-24=32 (Lamb 8, Bumgardner 7). Assists: 10 (Co. Hatfield 9). Turnovers 18. Blocked shots 2. Steals: 10 (Co. Hatfield 7).