PROCTORVILLE — Fairland coach John McClung doesn’t mind if his team kicks back and relaxes, as long as it is AFTER the game.

Despite the various rest stops, the Dragons still beat the long-range shooting River Valley Raiders 72-61 Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

River Valley bombed in 10-of-16 shots from behind the 3-point arc led by Cody McAvena who was 5-of-9 and Cody Smith who hit all three of his bombs.

“At times we played pretty well, and then we’d relax for a while and they’d make a run at us,” said McClung.

“We played pretty good defense. Only a couple of the 3’s were open. The 3’s kept them in the game.”

McAvena led the Raiders with 19 points, but only 6 points came in the second half. McClung attributed the defense of Cody Midkiff for the slowdown.

“With Eric Riley out with a knee injury, we’ve had guys stepping up,” said McClung. “Cody Midkiff is a freshman who came off the bench for us. He had nine points, but the big thing he did was on defense. McAvena didn’t score against him. He only scored when Midkiff was out for a rest.”

Evan Salyers had 18 points and 7 rebounds for Fairland while the guard tandem of Matt Bloomfield and Chad Fisher scored 17 points each.

Besides McAvena, Smith finished with 13 points for the Raiders (3-10, 2-6).

Salyers and Fisher combined for 12 points to offset 8 points by McAvena as Fairland took a 21-14 first quarter lead.

Fisher scored 7 more points for Fairland (8-7, 3-4) while McAvena and Smith had 5 each and both teams had 12 points in the second quarter to make it 33-26 at the half.

The Dragons then outscored the Raiders 23-10 in the third quarter to open up a comfortable 56-36 lead.

The Dragons host Huntington St. Joe on Tuesday.

River Valley 14 12 10 25 = 61

Fairland 21 12 23 16 = 72

RIVER VALLEY (3-10, 2-6): Blake Burdette 0-1 1-1 0-0 3, Trey Noble 0-1 1-2 1-2 4, Cody McAvena 2-3 5-9 0-0 19, Parker Hollingsworth 2-6 0-0 2-4 6, Aaron Harrison 4-12 0-1 0-2 8, Kyle Bryant 0-0 0-0 2-2 2, Dominique Peck 2-4 0-0 2-2 6, Cody Smith 1-6 3-3 2-2 13. Totals: 21-49 9-14 1. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Peck. 3-point goals: 10-16. Rebounds: 26. Assists: 5. Turnovers: 20.

FAIRLAND (8-7, 3-4): Jon Baise 0-2 1-2 1-2 4, Matt Bloomfield 7-10 0-0 3-5 17, Chad Fisher 4-7 2-2 3-5 17, Anthony Dillard 0-3 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Riley 1-1 0-1 0-0 2, Jonathan Holbrook 2-4 0-0 1-1 5, Cody Midkiff 3-3 1-1 0-0 9, Evan Salyers 7-14 0-0 4-6 18. Totals: 28-50 12-19 72. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 4-6. Rebounds: 26 (Salyers 7, Holbrook 5). Assists: 15 (Bloomfield 6, Fisher 5). Steals: 11. Turnovers: 11.