PEDRO — Just like a horse at the start of a horse race, the Fairland Dragons were a little skiddish.

But once they started making some horse sense out of the situation, the Dragons began to pull away to a 65-48 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Rock Hill Redmen Friday.

“We didn’t come out of the gate guarding well. (Sam) Cooke hurt us the first half, but we came out and battled him in the second half. We put more pressure on them and played more physical,” said Fairland coach John McClung.

Chad Fisher had a game-high 25 points to lead the Dragons (4-5, 2-2). Evan Salyers had 12 points and 10 rebounds while Jon Baise scored 11 points and Jonathan Holbrook 10.

“That was a big win for us. It got us even in the conference and it gave us some confidence,” said McClung. “Fisher is getting more consistent, Holbrook and Baise can help us when they score in double figures.”

Cooke had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Redmen (2-6, 0-4). Will McCollister added 14 points and 6 rebounds.

Baise scored 7 points in the first quarter as Fairland took a 17-16 lead. Cooke and McCollister combined for 11 of Rock Hill’s points.

Fisher had 6 points and Salyers 5 to offset 6 by Cooke as Fairland pulled away to a 35-26 halftime lead.

Fisher caught fire in the second half as he scored 16 points including 9 in the third quarter as the lead grew to 53-37.

Fairland 17 18 18 12 = 65

Rock Hill 16 10 11 11 = 48

FAIRLAND (4-5, 2-2): Jon Baise 2-5 2-5 1-2 11, Matt Bloomfield 1-4 0-1 1-2 3, Chad Fisher 8-14 2- 3-4 25, Eric Riley 1-3 0-0 2-4 4, Jonathan Holbrook 3-7 1-1 1-2 10, Evan Salyers 5-11 0-0 2-3 12, Matt Campbell 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Taubenheim 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Riley 0-0 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-61 10-17 65. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Holbrook. 3-point goals: 5-13. Rebounds: 33 (Salyers 10, Bloomfield 7). Steals: 14 (Fisher 5). Turnovers: 14.

ROCK HILL (2-6, 0-4): Jeremy Blagg 2-4 0-0 0-0 4, Will McCollister 3-4 2-3 2-4 14, Shane Russell 2-3 0-0 0-0 4, Ryan Albright 0-3 1-1 0-0 3, Devin Darby 1-4 1-2 0-0 5, Trey Wilds 0-0 0-3 0-0 0, Mitchell Patterson 1-4 0-0 0-0 2, Sam Cooke 8-16 0-0 0-2 16. Totals: 21-47 2-6 48. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Blagg. 3-point goals: 2-6. Rebounds: 30 (Cooke 15, McCollister 6). Assists: 9. Steals: 1. Turnovers: 25.