JACKSON — After taking a pounding to their physical state, the Fairland Dragons gave a physical pounding to the Wellston Golden Rockets.

Fairland lost starting point guard Cole Hatfield with 51 seconds left in the first half after sprains to both ankles. Then early in the second half, starting guard Zach Jordan fell to the floor hard and hurt his knee. He left the game and didn’t return.

But the Dragons pulled together and starting pounding the ball inside with Adam Berry and Tyler Godby as they turned a one-point halftime lead into a 70-49 rout of Wellston in the Division III sectional tournament semifinals.

“We had three guys sick and two went down hurt,” said Fairland coach John McClung. “We have ice bags and Ace bandages all over the place, but we made it. We’ll take (Wednesday) off to try and rest up and then get ready for Saturday.”

The Dragons (14-7) will play for the sectional title at 5 p.m. Saturday against Wheelersburg, a 53-38 winner over Rock Hill in Tuesday’s first game.

Fairland trailed for most of the first half before taking a 24-23 lead on a layup by Cris Ward with 40 seconds to play in the second quarter.

But the game changed quickly to start the second half. Berry hit two shots inside and it was 28-23. Chad Fisher then made a layup and the lead was 30-23 at the 6:45 mark.

Berry came back to hit a trey and a layup to extend the lead to 35-24. Ward’s baseline jumper and a three-point play by Michael Doerr with 30 seconds on the clock opened up a 49-32 cushion.

Berry had eight points and Godby four more in the quarter as the Dragons’ inside game began to dominate.

“We want to keep going to the basket, but if we don’t finish we loose our focus and stop running our offense,” said McClung.

“In the second half Berry played big and when he plays big we’re a different team.”

The Rockets managed to cut the deficit to 55-45 with 3:53 left on a three-point play by Ryan Darnell.

But Fairland ran off eight unanswered points and it was 63-45 with 2:28 to go.

Berry and Ward finished with 15 points each with Godby and Fisher scoring 13 apiece as four Dragons reached double figures.

Wellston (7-14) was led by Cody Wilkett with 11 points and Slone Cales with 10.

Wellston 10 13 12 14 = 49

Fairland 7 17 25 21 = 70

WELLSTON (7-14): Jeff Matteson 2 0 0-0 4,Tyler King 0 3 0-0 9, Cody Wilkett 5 0 1-2 11, Slone Cales 4 0 2-5 10, Jaylen Prater 3 0 1-2 7, Austin Osborne 0 1 0-0 3, Ryan Darnell 1 0 1-1 3, Seth Weikert 0 0 2-2 2, Ryan Wagener 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47 7-12 49. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Cales (4th 2:28). 3-point goals: 4-12. Rebounds: 7 off., 20 def. = 27 (Prater 6, Cales 5, Matteson 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 6 (Cales 3). Steals: 9 (Cales 3, Prater 2, Darnell 2). Turnovers: 21.

FAIRLAND (14-7): Zach Jordan 1 1 0-0 5, Matt Bloomfield 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Hatfield 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Godby 4 0 5-9 13, Adam Berry 5 1 2-3 15, Cris Ward 6 1 0-0 15, Chad Fisher 4 1 2-3 13, Eric Salyers 1 0 2-4 4, Don Ntontolo 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Doerr 2 0 1-1 5, Eric Doerr 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-55 12-20 70. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-15. Rebounds: 15 off., 22 def. = 37 (Godby 9, Berry 5). Assists: 7 (Hatfield 2). Steals: 11 (Hatfield 2, Bloomfield 2, Berry 2, Ward 2). Turnovers: 14.