By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — With Caleb Lovely a little sick, his South Point teammates had the right medicine.

With other players turning in strong performances, the Pointers beat the Fairland Dragons 50-40 in a key Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

“That was a great team win,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise. “Lovely was a little sick but he still scored 12. Everyone else really stepped it up.

“Jordan (Ermalovich) stepped up and hit some big shots and guarded well. Xander (Dornon) doesn’t get any credit but he plays his tail off. Carter (Smith) and Josh (Childers) stepped up and played well.”

Ermalovich had 17 points including five big 3-pointers as the Pointers are now atop the league at 9-1 and 13-3 overall.

Dornon had 9 rebounds and 3 assists, Lovely 6 rebounds, Ermalovich 3 assists and 3 steals with Childers and Smith coming off the bench to score 9 and 8 points, respectively.

Fairland (11-5, 7-3) was led by Will Davis with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals with Brody Buchanan getting 12 points to go with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

South Point jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Fairland came back to take an 8-7 lead on a steal and 2 foul shots by Davis with 3:31 left its he first quarter.

But a layup by Lovely gave the Pointers a 9-8 first quarter lead.

The Dragons were up 13-11 in the second quarter when the Pointers went on an 11-3 run to end the half and led 22-16.

Childers scored 6 points while Ermalovich had a 3-pointer and went 2-of-2 at the line.

Buchanan hit a 3-pointer for Fairland in the quarter.

Ermalovich came up big in the third quarter as he drained 4 shots from behind the arc as the Pointers held a 36-28 lead.

Davis scored 7 points including a 3-pointer for Fairland with Buchanan adding a trifecta.

South Point was able to seal the deal by converting 7-of-9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Lovely was 3-of-3 at the line as he scored 5 points, Carter Smith was 2-of-2 and Dornon 2-of-3 at the line with Childers adding a 3-pointer.

Davis 3-pointer Buchanan scored 6 points for Fairland including 4-of-4 at the line while Davis hit a 3-pointer.

Fairland    8 8 12 12 = 40

South Point 9 13 14 14 = 50

FAIRLAND (11-5, 7-3): Will Davis 2-7 2-3 4-4 14, Chase Allen 1-5 0-6 1-2 3, Zion Martin 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, J.D. Thacker 1-3 1-4 2-4 7, Steeler Leep 2-4 0-2 0-2 4, Brody Buchanan 1-4 2-5 4-4 12, Keegan Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-45 11-16 40. 3-pt goals: 5-21. Rebound: 20 (Buchanan 5, Martin 4, Davis 4). Assists: 5 (Buchnanan 2, Allen 2). Steals: 6 (Buchanan 3 Davis 2). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.

SOUTH POINT (13-3, 9-1): Caleb Lovely 4-10 0-0 4-4 12, Xathan Haney 0-2 0-2 0-0 0, Jaxon Vance 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Ermalovich 0-3 5-6 2-3 17, Xander Dornon 1-5 0-0 2-3 4, Carter Smith 3-3 0-1 2-2 8, Josh Childers 3-3 1-1 0-0 9. Totals: 17-38 10-12 50. 3-pt goals: 6-11. Rebound: 38 (Dornon 9, Lovely 6 Ermalovich 4, Haney 4). Assists: 10 (Dornon 3, Ermalovich 3). Steals: 4 (Ermalovich 3). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.