Depleted Hornets withstand Pointers comeback for 53-47 win

COAL GROVE — Despite missing two starters from their lineup, the Coal Grove Hornets built up a 20-point lead but still had to hold off a furious comeback in the final 5 minutes of the game to beat the South Point Pointers 43-37 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Thursday night.

"I knew they had three pretty good shooters," said Hornets coach Kevin Vanderhoof. "The Pope kid can shoot, so can the Hunt kid and Lewis. But being down two starters, we felt zone was our best option tonight."

"And we had some kids step up and knock some shots down. Plus we cleaned the boards up and limited their second chance opportunities."

Bronson Guy finished with a team-high 12 points and 5 rebounds. Rylan Smith overcame early foul trouble and finished the night with 10 points, 8 rebounds and a steal. James Dome chipped in 8 points, 6 rebounds and a steal.

The Pointers were led by Davon Lewis with a game-high 15 points, 5 rebounds and an assist, and Ethan Hunt with 10 points, 3 boards and a pair of steals.

Coal Grove appeared to be in full control following a driving layup from Guy to take a 40-20 lead with 5:06 remaining.

Lewis would get the hot hand and ignite a 17-1 run over the next four minutes to help to Pointers get to within four. During the run, Caseyn Pope would come up with a steal and make an assist to Lewis. Then later on, Lewis would hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Pointers to within 41-35 with 2:03 left on the clock.

After a stop on the defensive end, South Point would narrow the deficit to 41-37 when Pope pulled down a rebound and put the ball back in the cylinder with 1:01 showing on the clock.

Coal Grove would break South Point's press on their ensuing possession and get a run out layup from Dome to give the Hornets a 6-point lead with 50 seconds to go.

The Pointers tried to get closer, but their shots would not fall and the Hornets came up with key stops in the final seconds to seal the win.

"I thought we did a really good job for 3 quarters and the fourth became almost a disaster. Then they begin to press us and we give up 6-7 turnovers," said Vanderhoof. "But I'm just proud of these kids for hanging in there and pulling it out."

The Hornets came out in the opening frame and got four 3-pointers to open up a 12-6 lead.

Schug hit twice from downtown, while Smith and Turner had the others.

In the second, Coal Grove continued to control the tempo and build their lead even more.

Guy and Dome would each score 4 points apiece to lead the Hornets in scoring and help Coal Grove take a 22-10 lead into the locker room.

The Hornets continued to control the game in the third by outscoring the Pointers 12-6.

Smith scored 5 points in the quarter, including a driving layup as time expired to give Coal Grove a 34-16 lead going into the final quarter.

South Point  6    4     6   21  =  37

Coal Grove 12   10   12   9  =  43

SOUTH POINT(4-6, 2-3): James Carey 2 0 0-1 4, Ethan Hunt 3 1 0-0 9, Davon Lewis 3 3 0-0 15, Luke Fitzpatrick 0 0 0-0 0, Landon Vance 1 0 1-4 3, Keondre Garred 0 0 0-0 0, Caesyn Pope 2 0 0-0 4, Hunter Chinn 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 12 4 1-5 37. Rebounds: (O-16, D-15) 31 (Pope 8, Carey 5, Lewis 5). Assists: 6 (Lewis 2, Garred 2, Pope 2). Steals: 6 (Hunt 2, Pope 2). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (5-5, 1-3): Bronson Guy 4 1 1-2 12, Peyton Bryant 0 0 0-0 0, Rylan Smith 1 2 2-3 10, Chayce Murphy 1 0 0-0 2, Braden Schug 0 2 0-0 6, James Dome 4 0 0-0 8, Caden Turner 1 1 0-0 5. Totals: 11 6 3-5 43. Rebounds: (O-8, D-23) 31 (Smith 8, Turner 7, Dome 6). Assists: 4 (Guy, Bryant, Schug, Dome). Steals: 4 (Guy, Smith, Dome, Turner). Blocks: 3 (Turner 3). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 6. Fouled out: None.