SOUTH POINT— The South Point Pointers used turnovers and the three ball to beat the Blue Devils of Gallia Academy 70-53 in an OVC game Tuesday evening.
Pointers’ senior Cody Runyon scored a game-high 24 points on eight triples, including five in the second quarter to push South Point’s lead after a back and fourth affair to start the game. Runyon also recorded a team-high six rebounds for the Pointers.
As a team, South Point scored 11 threes, and in the first half, used a full court press to create numerous Blue Devil turnovers.
“We started early with the press to try and get their guards flustered, and I think we did that,” South Point head coach Travis Wise said.
“We backed out of it in the second half because I thought our guys were getting tired. But we were much more aggressive in our half court defense and they weren’t getting comfortable with the ball. We wanted to put the pressure on them early.”
After the first quarter, Gallia led 16-14, but got outscored 24-14 in the second quarter and trailed 38-30 going into the break.
South Point Tayshaun Fox scored 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists, Logan Wade recorded 12 points and five rebounds and Elijah Adams chipped in eight points, five boards and three assists for the Pointers.
Four Blue Devils scored in double figures and recorded all of Gallia Academy’s points on the night.
Leading the way for Gallia was 6-11 freshman Zach Loveday, who scored 19 points. Cory Call recorded 14 points while Justin McClelland and Evan Wiseman each scored 10.
“It was a good game. South Point is always a hard place to play. It’s a tough environment and Coach Wise does a good job with their kids,” Gallia Academy head coach Gary Harrison said. “We’ve had some health issues this week with three of our players getting the flu, so we were a little under the weather. But they’re quick and can shoot it, and we just had no answers for it tonight.”
Wise said he was pleased to see Runyon’s shot fall for the Pointers, and that the three is something his team works on each day.
“We do a drill where we’ll take layups, then shoot mid range jumpers, then move back to the three point line, so we practice it everyday,” Wise said.
“Cody’s a really good shooter when he gets his feet set, and tonight he got hot.”
South Point was outscored 13-10 in the third quarter, but went on to double Gallia’s fourth quarter total, outscoring the Blue Devils 22-10 in the quarter to close out the game.
“We should have done a better job throwing the ball in the post,” Harrison said. “But South Point’s good. Anytime you’re on the road in the OVC, you’re going to be up for a good game, and that’s just how it is.”
South Point (11-8, 7-5) travels to Ironton Friday while Gallia (13-5, 9-3) travels to Fairland.
Gallipolis    16    14    13    10    =     53
South Point     14    24    10    22    =    70
GALLIA ACADEMY (13-5, 9-3): Justin McClelland 0 2 4-5 10, Evan Wiseman 3 1 1-1 10, Cory Call 5 1 1-2 14, Zach Loveday 8 0 3-6 19. Totals: 16 4 9-14 53. Fouled Out: None
SOUTH POINT (11-8, 7-5): Douglas Shaffer 0 2 0-0 6, Tayshaun Fox 5 1 3-3 16, Elijah Adams 4 0 0-0 8, Cody Runyon 0 8 0-0 24, Cade Brandt 1 0 0-0 2, Caleb Eplion 1 0 0-0 2, Logan Wade 4 0 4-5 12. Totals: 15 11 7-8 70. Fouls: 14. Fouled Out: None.