By Dustin Melchior

PEDRO— After a loss against the Fairland Dragon this past Tuesday, South Point head coach Travis Wise was impressed with the way his team bounced back against Rock Hill Friday evening, cruising to a 53-34 victory.
Rock Hill won the opening tip, but two quick first quarter threes by South Point senior Cody Runyon put the Pointers on top for good, and they never looked back.
“We played a lot of team basketball tonight. We got away from that against Fairland,” Wise said. “We made the extra passes, had several players in double figures and just played more as a team. That showed tonight.”
Leading the Pointers (8-4, 4-3) in scoring was sophomore Tayshaun Fox, who racked up a game-high 16 points, half of those coming in the fourth quarter. South Point senior Elijah Adams added 14 and Runyon finished the game with 10 points on three threes and a free throw.
Leading the Redmen in scoring was sophomore Mason Darby with 12 points.
Darby also pulled down 15 rebounds.
“I liked the hustle out of our guys tonight. We’ve been a little slow starting usually, but tonight we started fast,” Wise said.
“This is always a tough place to play, so we knew we had to master our effort. I was happy to start the game fast. It got us going with our confidence.”
After the first quarter, the Pointers led 18-5 but allowed Rock Hill to get back into the game before halftime.
Nate Malone scored five of his seven points in the second quarter as Rock Hill outscored the Pointers 14-7 and South Point saw its lead dwindle to 25-19 going into the break.
Wise said he thought his team got a little complacent in the second quarter, which allowed Rock Hill to get back into the game, but that they picked it back up after halftime to finish the game strong.
Adams and Runyon each hit 3-pointers in the third quarter and Adams, Fox and Runyon combined for 13 points to help the Pointers extend their lead to 40-26.
The Redmen (2-11, 0-7) were held to just seven points in the quarter.
“I felt like they did a good job of making us work for every bucket we got,” Rock Hill head coach Sam Gue said.
“They made it difficult for us to score tonight by limiting us to one shot and I feel like we didn’t do a good job of contesting their dribble penetration. They were able to get to the rim too much and our rotations weren’t great. But give them credit, they’ve got some great guards.”
South Point traveled to Wheelersburg Saturday and visits Coal Grove on Tuesday. Rock Hill goes to Fairland on Tuesday.
South Point    18    7    15    13    =    55
Rock Hill    5    14    7    8    =    34
SOUTH POINT (8-4, 4-3): Max Tabor 0 0 0-1 0, Douglas Shaffer 0 1 0-0 3, Jared Whitt 0 1 0-0 3, Tayshaun Fox 8 0 0-0 16, Elijah Adams 2 3 1-3 14, Cody Runyon 0 3 1-2 10, Cade Brandt 0 0 0-2 0, Logan Wade 3 0 1-1 7, Dustin McCarty 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Eplion 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 8 3-9 55. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None.
ROCK HILL (2-10, 0-7): Tyler Damron0 0 0-2 0, Jake Blagg 0 0 2-2 2, Logan Reed 0 0 0-0 0, Tim Adkins 1 0 0-0 2, Isaac Floyd 0 0 0-0 0, Logan Hankins 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Malone 2 0 3-6 7, Mason Darby 4 0 4-7 12, Jaret Bacorn 3 0 1-3 7, Kadin France 0 0 1-2 1, Brady Knipp 0 1 0-0 3, Cameron Barnette 0 0 0-4 0. Totals: 10 1 11-26 34. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.