COAL GROVE — The South Point Pointers were off to the races and left the Coal Grove Hornets at the starting gate.

South Point came out running and gunning as they built a big lead early and rolled to a 72-54 Ohio Valley Conference win on Saturday.

“We had a good night. We finally played like we did early on in the season. We sat down and guarded people,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise.

South Point scored 15 unanswered points to start the game and opened up a 29-4 first quarter lead.

Mason Kazee was the lead horse in the first quarter race as he drained four 3-pointers and scored 17 of his game-high 22 points.

Jordan Ermalovinch had 5 points as he and Caleb Schneider each added 3-pointers.

The quarter break slowed the Pointers’ momentum but Schneider still scored 4 points and Kazee added another 3-pointer for a 40-20 halftime lead.

Five different Hornets scored in the second quarter with Owen Johnson hitting a 3-pointer and scoring 8 of the 16 points.

Coal Grove (6-11, 3-9) wasn’t quitting as Perry Kingrey had 4 points and Elijah Dillon hit a 3-pointer for the Hornets in the third quarter cut the deficit slightly at 50-33.

Xander Dornon had 4 of South Point’s 10 total in the quarter.

But the offense picked up again in the fourth quarter for both teams as South Point (12-7, 8-4) outscored the Hornets 22-21.

Schneider had 7 points and Dornon 6 to keep the cushion safe.

Trevor Hankins drained a triple and scored 8 points while Gavin Gipson came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer for the Hornets.

Besides Kazee, Schneider scored 18 points and Dornon had 12. Ermalovich finished with 9 points, 3 assists and 3 steals. Malik Pegram had 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Johnson lead Coal Grove with 16 points while Hankins scored 14.

South Point   29  11  10  22  =  72

Coal Grove      4   16  13  21  =  54

SOUTH POINT: (12-7, 8-4): Caleb Schneider 6 1 3-4 18, Jake Adams 3 0 0-0 6, Elijah Wilburn 1 0 0-0 2, Mason Kazee 2 5 1-1 22, Malik Pegram 0 0 1-2 1, Carter Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Emalovich 3 1 0-0 9, Keyshawn Bailey 1 0 0-1 2, Xander Dornon 6 0 0-0 12, Josh Childers 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-40 5-8 72. 3-pt goals: 7-16. Rebounds: 20 (Pegram 5, Dornon 4, Kazee 4). Assists: 16 (Pegram 5, Ermalovich 3). Steals: 11 (Dornon 3, Ermalovich 3). Turnovers: 3. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE: (6-11, 3-9): Luke Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0, Steven Simpson 0 0 0-0 0, Brayden Stuntebeck 0 0 0-0 0, John Turner 0 0 0-0 0, Trevor Hankins 5 1 1-2 14, Landon Davis 1 0 1-2 3, Hunter Staton 1 0 1-4 3, Elijah Dillon 1 1 0-0 5, Owen Johnson 4 1 5-7 16, Braxton Horn 1 0 0-0 2, Gavin Gipson 0 1 0-0 3, Perry Kingrey 4 0 0-0 8. Totals: 17 4 8-15 54. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.