JACKSON — It’s called basketball because the object of the game is for the players to put the ball in the basket.

The Rock Hill Redmen had trouble with that rule Monday as they lost to the Wheelersburg Pirates 57-34 in the Division III sectional tournament.

Rock Hill managed just 35 attempts and made only 12 for 34 percent. Conversely, Wheelersburg was 23-of-52 for 44 percent.

“We had some breakdowns defensively and offensively we just didn’t stick the ball in the hole,” said Redmen coach Bob Wilds. “It’s been the same story all year. We fall behind early and have to battle back. I have to give our kids credit. They played hard.”

Wheelersburg tried to put the game away early, but the Redmen refused to go away quietly.

Sam Cooke hit an 8-footer that gave Rock Hill its only lead of the game at 2-0. A three-point play by Andy Stegman gave the Pirates a 5-2 lead at the 6:21 mark of the first quarter and they never trailed again.

Webb Ballard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close out the quarter as Wheelersburg took a 15-4 lead.

Rock Hill (6-13) began its comeback in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Devin Darby that cut the deficit to 17-7. The Pirates were up 25-11 but a put-back by Darby and a shot jumper by Cooke made it 25-15 at the break.

Jeremy Blagg’s layup and another trey by Darby got the Redmen with 25-20 with 6:53 left in the third quarter.

But the Redmen couldn’t make another field goal the rest of the quarter and fell behind 41-23.

“We came out in the second half and cut it to five and started doing the things we had worked on. But they went on a (13-3) run and we didn’t respond,” said Wilds.

Stegman had 11 points in the quarter.

Darby scored 12 points to pace Rock Hill. Cooke finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds. Will McCollister had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Stegman scored 24 points and had 7 rebounds for the Pirates who will face top-seeded and unbeaten Oak Hill on Friday in the sectional finals. The Oaks have won the two previous meetings this season.

Rock Hill will play its final regular season game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Green.

Rock Hill 4 11 8 11 = 34

Wheelersburg 15 10 16 16 = 57

ROCK HILL (6-13): Jeremy Blagg 2 0 2-2 6, Will McCollister 0 0 0-0 0, Devin Darby 2 2 2-2 12, Trey Wilds 0 0 0-0 0, Sam Cooke 3 0 1-3 7, Shane Russell 0 0 2-2 2, Ryan Albright 2 0 0-0 4, Mitchell Patterson 0 1 0-1 3, Andy Knipp 0 0 0-0 0, Chris LeMaster 0 0 0-0 0, Jared Bruce 0 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Schwab 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Kidd 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-35 7-10 34. 3-point goals: 3-8. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 4 offense, 24 defense = 28 (McCollister 6, Cooke 5, Patterson 4, Blagg 4). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 6 (McCollister 4). Steals: 4 (Blagg 2). Turnovers: 18. Blocked shots: Cooke 2, Darby 1.

WHEELERSBURG (9-11): Andrew Bendolph 1 0 1-3 3, Webb Ballard 1 2 1-2 9, Tyler Lang 2 0 1-1 5, Shane Ward 1 0 0-0 2, Andy Stegman 11 0 2-4 24, Austin McBee 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Isaac Duduit 0 0 0-0 0, Andy Sloan 1 0 2-5 4, Coley Warner 1 1 0-05, TomGraf 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron Parker 0 0 1-2 1, Clay Massie 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 23-52 8-17 57. 3-point goals: 3-11. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12 offense, 20 defense = 32 (Stegman 7, Ward 4, Lang 4). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 9 (Lang 2, Ballard 2). Steals: 14 (Lang 5, Ward 3). Turnovers: 7.