By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — Count ‘em. One, two, three, four and five.

That’s the number of overtimes the South Point Pointers and Cabell Midland Knights played on Friday that save the Pointers survive with a 104-102 win.

“That was a crazy game. I’ve never been involved in a game like that nor have the players. It was quite an experience,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise.

“Both teams played hard and I was proud of my team. They never quit and fought through the fatigue.”

South Point’s Caleb Lovely and Jordan Ermalovich combined for 69 points. Lovely have 38 points — he was 14-of-18 at the foul line — and he grabbed 10 rebounds. Ermalovich scored 31 points and had 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Xander Dornon got 11 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists for the Pointers (6-3).

The Knights (3-1) were led by Dominic Schmidt with 34 points as 4 players hit double figures. Identikits Cottrell scored 18, Ethan Blackburn 13 and Isaac Pettit 12 points.

South Point led 25-21 after the first quarter only to have the Knights tie the game 38-all at the half.

Cabell Midland took a 58-55 lead after three quarters before the Pointers got 4 points each from Lovely and Dornon to force overtime.

The game was tied 76-76 after the first overtime and then it was tied at 83, 90 and 98 before the Pointers outscored Midland 6-4 in the fifth overtime as Lovely had 3 points, Ermalovich 2 and Josh Childers added a free throw.

Cabell Midland 21 17 20 10 8 7 7 8 4 = 102

South Point      25 13 17 13 8 7 7 8 6 = 104

CABELL MIDLAND (3-1): Jack Eastone 1 1 4-5 9, Isaac Pettit 6 0 0-0 12, Levi Marshall 0 1 0-1 3, Chaise Hatfield 0 2 0-0 6, Dominic Schmidt 10 3 5-12 34, Aiden Cottrell 6 1 3-5 18, Ethan Bohm 1 2 0-0 8, Ethan Blackburn 2 3 0-0 13. Totals: 26 13 11-23 . Fouls: 30. Fouled out: Pettit, Schmidt, Bohm.

SOUTH POINT (6-3): Caleb Lovely 9 2 14-18 38, Xathan Haney 2 0 1-1 5, Jordan Ermalovich 7 3 6-8 31, Brayden Hanshaw 2 0 2-4 6, Xander Dornon 4 0 3-5 11, Carter Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Elijah Wilburn 0 0 0-0 0, Josh Childers 0 1 0-1 4, Jaxon Vance 0 1 1-3 4, Ethan Layne 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson Childers 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 25 8 28-41 104. Rebounds: 44 (Lovely 10, Dornon 9, Ermalovich 6) Assists: 16 (Ermalovich 7, Dornon 3). Steals: 12. (Haney 3, Childers 3). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Dornon.