Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

ATHENS — This one was all about making shots.

The Portsmouth Trojans were on target almost all night as they downed the Coal Grove Hornets 60-46 on Sunday in the Division III district semifinals at Ohio University.

Portsmouth hit 22-of-51 shots for 43 percent while Coal Grove was 19-of-52 for 36 percent. The Trojans were 13-of-26 in the second half to the Hornets 10-of-28 and the opened up a close game.

“You’ve got to give Portsmouth credit. They’re a really nice basketball team. They’re athletic, they’re long and they were hot form the outside,” said Hornets’ coach Jay Lucas.

“We played a pretty nice basketball game, it just came down to the shots didn’t go in that we needed to go in. That’s what it comes down to.”

Brandon Adkins had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Hornets (13-11). Daniel Rutherford added nine points and Jose Akers grabbed eight rebounds.

Kendall Reynolds led Portsmouth (18-6) with a game-high 24 points. Sky Oliver scored 16 points to go with seven rebounds and Ky’re Allison added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Alex Dickerson pulled down nine rebounds for the Trojans.

“Travis (Carey) had been a good player throughout the year. He’s hit a lot of big shots. Any time he gets in foul trouble, that hurts us for sure. But I thought Brandon (Adkins) stepped up and had a big game and I thought Joe (Akers) stepped up and did a good job,” said Lucas.

“We played pretty well for the most part. Brandon and Joe and Travis battled hard under the basket for rebounds, but Portsmouth is just so quick.”

Reynolds hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points in the first quarter and Oliver added a triple as Portsmouth took a 15-8 lead.

A trey by Oliver with 5:35 left in the half gave the Trojans a 20-10 lead. Adkins hit a trifecta at the 2:58 mark and Chase McKnight made an 18-footer to cut the deficit to 23-19.

Reynolds’ layup made it 25-19 but a foul shot by Adkins had it 25-20 at the half.

The third quarter was the downfall for the Hornets as they hit only 4-of-15 shots and fell behind 43-32.

“I felt our kids played exceptionally hard. We just came up a little bit short. We missed a few conversion under the basket and those are huge in tournament basketball,” said Lucas.

Layups by Rutherford and Akins cut the spread to 43-36, but a layup by Ethan Leonard and three-point play by Allison opened up a 48-36 lead.

Two foul shots by Reynolds put the Trojans up 54-39 with 3:42 left and the Hornets never got closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

Coal Grove 8 12 12 14 = 46

Portsmouth 15 10 18 17 = 60

COAL GROVE (13-11): Travis Carey 2 0 0-1 4, Jordan Lucas 2 0 2-2 6, Chase McKnight 1 1 0-0 5, Brandon Adkins 6 1 1-4 16, Joe Akers 1 1 1-2 6, Isaac Fields 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Rutherford 3 0 1-2 9, Cole Gannon 0 0 0-0 0, Dalton Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Myers 0 0 0-0 0, Jeb Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Sam Angelo 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-52 5-11 46. 3-point goals: 3-12. Rebounds: 13-off. 24-def. = 37 (Adkins 12, Akers 8). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 4 (Adkins 2). Steals: 4. Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.

PORTSMOUTH (18-6): Sky Oliver 2 3 3-4 16, Ethan Leonard 1 0 2-2 4, Ky’re Allison 5 0 2-3 12, Alex Dickerson 0 0 0-0 0, Kendall Reynolds 7 2 4-6 24, Cole Lowery 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Purdy 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter Gibson 1 0 0-0 2, Zach Delotell 0 0 0-0 0, J.J. Josey 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Sturgill 0 0 0-0 0, Trent Rodbell 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-51 11-14 60. 3-point goals: 5-18. Rebounds: 11-off. 25-def. = 36 (Dickerson 9, Allison 8, Oliver 7). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 7 (Oliver 3, Dickers 2, Allison 2). Steals: 6 (Oliver 2, Reynolds 2). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.