PEDRO — All the Rock Hill Redmen needed was to shift into another gear.

Leading by just 6 points at the half, the Redmen put together a strong third quarter and pulled away late to beat the Coal Grove Hornets 49-36 Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We knew we had to speed them up. They had us playing their tempo. We were able to do that in the third quarter,” Redmen coach Adam Simpson said.

The game was only 6-6 at the end of the first quarter. Nathan Davenport scored 7 points in the second quarter while Tyler Branch had 5 for the Hornets as Rock Hill took a 21-15 halftime lead.

“We struggled. Coach (Mike) Waller had a good game plan and they executed it. Give them credit. They were 0-19 and they came in and played their guts out. We were fortunate to beat them,” Simpson said.

Rock Hill outscored Coal Grove 18-9 in the third quarter to go up 39-24.

“They had a little run to start the second half that put us in a hole,” Waller said. “We battled back-and-forth after that. We played pretty good defense, we just didn’t shoot the ball well.”

Coal Grove was only 16 of 56 from the field for 28.6 percent and 2 of 14 from 3-point range for

14 percent.

After trailing by as many as 21 points in the third quarter, Coal Grove cut the deficit to 40-36 early in the fourth quarter.

Chris Dirling and Austin Willis hit 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for the Hornets, but Aaron Butler had a 3-pointer to help the Redmen hang onto their lead.

Davenport had 14 points and Butler 11 to lead the Redmen who finished 13-6 on the regular season and tied for second in the OVC at 7-3.

Tyler Branch led Coal Grove (0-20, 0-10) with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

On Tuesday in the sectional tournament, Coal Grove plays Lucasville Valley at Rock Hill while Rock Hill faces Waverly at Southeastern High School.

Coal Grove69912=36

Rock Hill6151810=49

COAL GROVE (0-20, 0-10): Simon Hall 3 0 1-2 7, Zack Murphy 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Dirling 2 1 0-0 7, Tyler Branch 5 0 1-2 11, Adam Bare 2 0 0-0 4, Zach Sloan 0 0 0-0 0, Wayne Sparks 1 0 0-0 2, Austin Willis 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 16-56

2-4

36. 3-point goals: 2-14. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Bare. Rebounds: 26 (Branch 10, Bare 6, Hall 5). Steals:

Dirling 2). Turnovers: 24. Blocked shots: 3 (Hall 3).

ROCK HILL (13-6, 7-3): Nathan Davenport 5 0 4-6 14, Matt Matney 3 0 0-0 6, Mark DePriest 2 0 1-3 5, Andrew Stumbo 3 0 0-2 6, Mike Ison 1 0 0-2 2, Eli Kitchen 0 0 0-0 0, Wes Pierson 1 1 0-0 5, Tyler Kirkpatrick 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron Butler 1 3 0-2 11. Totals: 16

4

5-16

49. Fouls: 4. Fouled out: None.