CHESHIRE - If you have Ohio Valley Conference title hopes, you might want to avoid the Coal Grove Hornets.

For the second straight game, the Hornets played spoiler to OVC contenders with a 67-65 win over the River Valley Raiders Tuesday.

After giving Rock Hill a crucial OVC loss last Friday, the Hornets eliminated the Raiders from the title chase. River Valley is 6-11 overall and 5-4 in the conference.

"River Valley is a tough place to play. Our kids are starting to come together. We hope to finish out the season strong," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said.

"You look at the stats and we're almost dead even. Both teams played well. This was a total team win."

Brandon Rymer pumped in 22 points to lead three Hornets in double figures. Tommy Pemberton had 14 points and Tyler Sexton 11.

Steven Harder scored 20 points to lead River Valley. Colby Reese had 12 and Daniel Berry added 11.

Harder scored six points in the first quarter as River Valley went up 17-13. Rymer had eight points including a pair of 3-pointers, and Evan Melvin added a 3-pointer to keep the Hornets close.

Rymer had eight more points in the second quarter and the defense held the Raiders to a 3-pointer and five foul shots as Coal Grove took a 32-25 halftime lead.

"Rymer had the hot hand the first half," Humphreys said. "Luke Tackett and Evan Melvin played well off the bench. They provided some steady minutes. They played their roles extremely well."

Berry and Harder had eight points each in the third quarter as River Valley rallied to take a 47-46 lead.

But Sexton had seven points, Pemberton scored six and the Hornets were 6 of 6 from the line . Rymer made 4-of-4 and Shane Bridges 2-of-2.

The Raiders scored with two seconds left to make it 67-65, but they were out of timeouts and Coal Grove let the clock run out.

In the reserve game, Coal Grove (10-6) won 54-51 in overtime as Derek Otta hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left for the win and finished with 12 points. Matt Melvin added 11 points for the Hornets.

Coal Grove13191421-67

River Valley1782218-65

COAL GROVE (7-9, 2-6):

Shane Bridges 0 0 5-5 5, Brandon Rymer 3 4 4-4 22, Evan Melvin 2 1 0-0 7, Luke Tackett 2 0 0-0 4, Tyler Sexton 4 1 0-0 11, Tom Pemberton 6 0 2-2 14, Jimmy Lemon 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 25

(6)

11-11

67. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Bridges. Turnovers: 15. Rebounds. 8-16=24

RIVER VALLEY (6-11, 5-4):

Chris Roush 1 0 0-0 2, Daniel Berry 2 2 1-1 11, Chris Brown 0 1 2-2 5, Derek Smith 0 0 2-2 2, Jared Swain 2 1 0-0 7, Trace Fraley 0 2 0-0 6, Colby Reese 5 0 2-2 12, Steven Harder 7 0 6-7 20. Totals: 23

(6)

13-14

65. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 15. Rebounds: 11-13=24.