COAL GROVE — Hey, you can’t pass up free.

Coal Grove connected regularly on its free throws as the Hornets beat the Rock Hill Redmen 52-38 Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

The Hornets (12-5, 4-4) made good on 22-of-30 from the foul line including 13-of-18 in the fourth quarter when Rock Hill was forced to foul.

“They had to put us on the line and we stepped up and hit our shots. In games like this you have to make your free throws if you’re going to win,” said Hornets’ coach Randy Ward.

Evan Ferguson led the Hornets with 19 points including 9-of-10 from the foul line. Cody Damron was 6-of-10 at the line and scored 12 points.

Shane Russell had 11 points and Jeremy Blagg 9 for the Redmen (6-10, 0-8) who could muster only single digit scoring in three of the four quarters.

“We struggled early, but we came out and played really hard,” said Ward. “We started to pick it up offensively. Our defense played well the whole game. John Kazee came off the bench and gave us some good minutes.”

Ferguson had 6 points in the first quarter as Coal Grove took a 12-9 lead.

The Hornets outscored Rock Hill 12-6 in the second quarter and led 24-15 at the break.

Damron had 7 points and Ferguson 6 in the third quarter as Coal Grove pulled away to a comfortable 39-19 lead.

When the fourth quarter began the Redmen started to foul. Coal Grove scored all of its 13 points in the quarter from the foul line as Ferguson went 5-of-6, Damron 3-of-4 and Dion Cunningham came off the bench to go 4-of-4.

Rock Hill 9 6 4 19 = 38

Coal Grove 12 12 15 13 = 52

ROCK HILL (6-10, 0-8): Jeremy Blagg 2 0 5-9 9, Will McCollister 1 0 0-0 2, Shane Russell 4 0 3-5 11, Devin Darby 1 1 1-2 6, Trey Wilds 0 1 0-0 3, Sam Cooke 3 0 1-1 7, Mitchell Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Albright 0 0 0-0 0, Andy Knipp 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 2 10-17 38. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Cooke.

COAL GROVE (12-5, 4-4): Evan Ferguson 5 0 9-10 19, Wayne Sparks 0 2 0-2 6, Oakie Haynes 2 0 3-4 7, Cody Damron 3 0 6-10 12, Devin Monnier 2 0 0-0 4, Dion Cunningham 0 0 4-4 4, John Kazee 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Barker 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Pauley 0 0 0-0 0, Colten Bryant 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 2 22-30 52. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Monnier.