Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — They say the third time’s the charm, but Coal Grove may disagree after falling short against the South Point Pointers for the third time this season in yet another game that came down to the wire.
The No. 5 seeded Hornets (9-10) could not outlast the No. 4 seeded Pointers (15-4) as they lost 53-47 in the Division III sectional championship.
“I felt like we played in spurts tonight. It was like we would pull ahead and then they would come back. It’s hard to beat a team three times. I’d like to clean up the turnovers, but overall we will take it,” said South Point head coach Travis Wise.
After tying the first quarter as both teams scored 12 points, Nakyan Turner used a big second quarter to help get the lead for South Point at the half.
The senior guard scored 11 points in the first half as his team led the Hornets 27-24.
Perry Kingery paced Coal Grove in the first half with 7 points.
Trevor Hankins tied the game a minute into the third quarter with a 3-pointer for Coal Grove. They took their first lead of the game with 2:04 remaining after Kingery knocked down a triple, 34-33.
The Pointers would answer and regain the lead before the end of the quarter, 37-36.
Jake Adams scored 5 points in the quarter for South Point on his way to a total of 10 for the game as he didn’t miss a shot from the field.
South Point closed out the fourth quarter 12-of-17 from the free throw line to secure the win. The free throws started after the Pointers began the final quarter on a 5-0 run that the Hornets could not recover from.
Tait Matney led Coal Grove with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in his final game. A solid outing for the senior as they played without junior starter, Malachi Wheeler.
Austin Webb and Nakyan Turner led South Point as Webb scored 17 points and Turner added 16 points while dishing out 4 assists.
South Point advances to the district semis at Adena on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
In the two regular season Ohio Valley Conference meetings, the Pointers won both tightly contested games, 55-54 and 35-33.
Coal Grove 12 12 12 11 = 47
South Point 12 15 10 16 = 53
COAL GROVE (9-10, 6-8): Jarren Hicks 2-5 0-0 2-2 6, Trevor Hankins 1-3 1-2 0-0 5, Tait Matney 4-8 0-3 5-9 13, Hunter Staton 2-3 0-2 2-4 6, Braxton Horn 0-3 2-7 1-3 7, Perry Kingery 3-3 1-1 1-1 10. Totals: 12-25 4-15 11-19 47. Rebounds: 25 (Matney 8, Kingery 8). Assists: 7 (Matney 3). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: none.
SOUTH POINT (15-4, 12-2): Jake Adams 2-2 1-1 3-4 10, Nakyan Turner 5-7 0-3 6-8 16, Mason Kazee 0-1 2-4 3-4 9, Darryl Taylor 0-0 0-0 1-2 1, Austin Webb 5-11 0-4 7-10 17, Xander Dornon 0-2 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-23 3-12 20-28 53. Rebounds: 21 (Kazee 5). Assists: 7 (Turner 4). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none.