By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — The South Point Pointers are back where they want to be: in the winner’s circle.

The Pointers bounced back from a tough loss at Fairland by beating the Gallipolis Blue Devils 70-43 on Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We got back on track and played more consistently and had good balance offensively,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise.

With the win, South Point moved into a first place tie in the OVC with Ironton and Portsmouth. The Pointers are 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the league. Gallipolis falls to 3-8 and 1-4.

The Pointers took an 11-7 first quarter lead as 5 different players scored.

South Point erupted in the second quarter and outscored the Blue Devils 22-5 and grabbed a 33-12 halftime cushion.

Josh Childers hit a 3-pointer and scored 7 points while Caleb Lovely and Xathan Haney had 5 points each with Ethan Layne adding 4 points to pace the Pointers offense.

Carter Smith scored 8 points and Lovely drained a pair of 3-pointers as South Point led 49-30 at the end of the third quarter.

Wes Saunders had a 3-pointer, went 4-of-4 at the line and he scored 9 points as Gallipolis outscored the Pointers 18-16.

But South Point bounced back and outscored the Blue Devils 21-13 in the fourth quarter as Landon Vance came off the bench to hit a triple and scored 8 points to lead 7 different players who scored.

Alex Blair had 5 points and Dylan Sheets 4 in the quarter for Gallipolis.

The Pointers had 4 players in double figures as Smith scored 14, Lovely 13, Childers 11 and Haney 10.

Haney had 9 rebounds, Hanshaw grabbed 6 while Lovely, Wilburn, Childers and Anderson had 5 each. Childers also had 4 assists and 3 steals with Wilburn also getting 3 steals.

Saunders scored 11 points to lead the Blue Devils.

Gallipolis  7 5 18 13 = 43

South Point 11 22 16 21 = 70

GALLIPOLIS (3-8, 1-4): Brayden Rathburn 0 0 0-2 0, Wes Saunders 2 1 4-4 11, Alex Blair 1 0 4-6 6, Cade Mock 1 0 2-2 4, Kenyon Franklin 3 0 1-1 7, Rees Toler 1 0 2-2 4, Dylan Sheets 2 0 0-0 4, Gabe Hammons 2 0 1-1 5, Blake Caldwell 0 0 0-0 0, Josh Watts 0 0 2-2 2, Beckett Camden 0 0 0-0 0, Cory Mock 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 1 16-20 43. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

SOUTH POINT (6-4, 4-1): Caleb Lovely 3 2 1-1 13, Carter Smith 5 1 1-2 14, Elijah Wilburn 3 0 0-0 6, Xathan Haney 4 0 2-3 10, Josh Childers 4 1 0-0 11, Landon Vance 2 1 1-2 8, Brayden Hanshaw 1 0 2-2 4, Ethan Hunt 0 0 0-0 0, Jalyn Anderson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-59 7-10 70. 3-pt goals: 5-15. Rebounds: 40 (Haney 9, Hanshaw 6, Lovely 5, Wilburn 5, Childers 5, Anderson 5). Assists: 12 (Childers 4). Steals: 9 (Childers 3, Wilburn 3). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.