Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — Elijah Adams had a pain in his side. The same could be said about the Coal Grove Hornets and their game with the South Point Pointers.
Pointers’ senior guard Elijah Adams suffered an appendicitis attack on Tuesday and was forced to go to the hospital.
Coal Grove took advantage of his absence early to get a lead, but the Pointers rallied and became pain to the Hornets as they posted a 58-49 Ohio Valley Conference win.
“You could see it on heir faces in the locker room. They had that deer in the headlight look,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise. “I told them everybody had to step up. We got down and the kids stepped up and came back.
“(Dustin) McCarty gave us a spark and (Cody) Runyon hit some big shots.”
With Adams and his 20 points a game missing, Tayshaun Fox stepped up his offense with a game-high 25 points. Runyon hit three 3-pointers for 9 points.
Tanner Hall had 6 rebounds, Logan Wade 5 and Caleb Eplion and Jared Whitt 4 each. Fox also had 7 assists with McCarty posting 4 assists.
Coal Grove (2-2, 0-1) had three players in double figures with a balanced offense. Evan Gannon scored 12 points on four 3-pointers while Daniel Rutherford and Aaron Music scored 11 each. Mark Sites added 6 points.
Rutherford scored 6 points in the first quarter as Coal Grove took an 11-5 lead.
Runyon hit a pair of trifectas in the second quarter and the Pointers trailed 30-22 at the half.
“We missed something like 11 layups early, but Runyon hit some big 3s to keep us close,” said Wise.
Fox took matters into his own hands by scoring 14 points in the third quarter as the Pointers outscored the Hornets 20-8 to take a 42-38 lead.
Fox was 4-of-4 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to help the Pointers seal the win.
In league games on Friday, South Point goes to Chesapeake and Coal Grove hosts Portsmouth.
Coal Grove    11    19    8    11    =    49
South Point    5    17    20    16    =    58
COAL GROVE (2-2, 0-1): Aaron Music 3 1 2-4 11, Jordan Case 1 0 1-2 3, Kyle Sites 1 0 0-0 2, Daniel Rutherford 5 0 1-4 11, Mark Sites 3 0 0-0 6, Jeb Jones 1 0 2-5 4, Elijah Roman 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Gannon 0 4 0-1 12. Totals: 14 5 6-16 49. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.
SOUTH POINT (4-0, 1-0): Douglas Shaffer 0 1 0-0 3, Tanner Hall 3 0 0-1 6, Jared Whitt 2 1 0-0 7, Tayshaun Fox 5 3 6-6 25, Cody Runyon 0 3 0-0 9, Cade Brandt 2 0 0-0 4, Dustin McCarty 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Eplion 0 0 0-0 0, Logan Wade 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 22-54 6-7 58. 3-point goals: 8-12. Rebounds: 28 (Hall 6, Wade 5, Eplion 4, Whitt 4). Assists: 18 (Fox 7, McCarty 4). Steals: 5. Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.