Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PEDRO — The Rock Hill Redmen did all that was asked of them. Mason Darby did more than was expected of him. Unfortunately, the Portsmouth Trojans did what was expected of them.
Darby — a 6-foot-5 sophomore center — scored 41 points and hauled down 19 rebounds in a 73-64 loss to Portsmouth in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.
“Those boys did everything I asked of them and I’m just disappointed we didn’t get the win,” said Rock Hill coach Sam Gue.
“What else can you say about Mason? The kid just wants to win. Every kid in that locker room does. 41 and 19 is a pretty remarkable line in high school.”
While Rock Hill held Matt Malone to three points, Kendall Reynolds had 24 points — he was 11-of-12 at the foul line — and D.J. Eley scored 21 including three 3-pointers.
“We knew coming in that we had to somehow slow Malone down if we wanted to have a chance. Reynolds is a tremendous player as well but we knew we couldn’t have both of them go crazy,” said Gue.
“Timmy (Adkins) was fantastic on defense limiting Malone to 3, but we didn’t do enough to contain them (as a team). Give them credit. They can flat out score. (Trojans’ coach) Eugene (Collins) does a great job.”
Rock Hill (2-17, 0-13) took a 16-10 lead in the first quarter as Darby scored eight points.
Reynolds and Eley scored six points each as Portsmouth rallied to take a 28-27 halftime lead. Darby scored seven points in the quarter.
Eley had eight points with a pair of 3-pointers and Reynolds had six more as Portsmouth extended its lead to 48-40. Darby had eight more points and Adkins added a 3-pointer.
The Trojans outscored the Redmen 25-24 in the fourth quarter as Reynolds scored eight points including 3-of-4 from the foul line and Reese Johnson added five points.
Darby hit three 3-pointers and exploded for 18 points in the quarter.
On Tuesday, Rock Hill hosts Symmes Valley and Portsmouth visits South Webster.
Portsmouth    10    18    20    25    =    73
Rock Hill    16    11    13    24    =    64
PORTSMOUTH (14-5, 9-4): D.J. Eley 5 3 2-2 21, Jahmie King 2 0 0-0 4, Daniel Jordan 4 0 0-0 8, Dakota Reynolds 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Malone 0 1 0-0 3, Kendall Reynolds 5 1 11-12 24 Reese Johnson 1 1 2-2 7, Ty Oliver 0 0 0-0 0, Gage Gambill 2 0 1-2 5. Totals: 19 6 16-18 73. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.
ROCK HILL (2-17, 0-13): Tyler Damron 0 0 0-0 0, Jake Blagg 3 0 0-1 6, Tim Adkins 1 1 0-0 5, Isaac Floyd 0 0 0-0 0, Logan Hankins 0 1 1-2 4, Mason Darby 14 3 4-9 41, Jaret Bacorn 2 0 2-2 6, Kadin France 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 21 5 7-14 64. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.