By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — This one hurt.

The South Point Pointers needed to win their final 3 games to secure an Ohio Valley Conference championship for the second straight season.

But the Portsmouth Trojans rallied from 5 points down after 3 quarters to edge the Pointers 72-68 on Friday.

South Point is now 12-6 overall and 9-3 in the OVC, one-half game behind Chesapeake.

Portsmouth kept its flickering title hopes alive with the win. The Trojans are now 14-5 and 9-3 overall.

South Point must play Ironton on Saturday and Tuesday while the Trojans face Fairland on Saturday and Tuesday. Chesapeake is 10-3 in the OVC and plays Coal Grove on Tuesday.

Deandre Berry scored 6 points, Malachi Loper sank a pair of 3-pointers, Donovan Breech scored 5 including a 3-pointer as Portsmouth took a 19-16 first quarter lead.

Caleb Lovely and Carter Smith both drained a pair of 3-pointers with Lovely adding 3 free throws.

But the Pointers rallied to take a 36-29 halftime advantage  as Lovely scored 6 points, Smith  drilled 2 more 3 pointers and Josh Childers added 4 points for South Point.

Berry and Breech scored 5 points each and both made a 3-pointer for the Trojans in the second quarter.

Berry scored 11 points and Isaiah Lewis was 4-of-4 from the foul line in the third quarter as Portsmouth got within 51-46.

Lovely buried a 3-pointer and scored 5 points and Haney hit a triple to keep the Pointers in front.

But the Trojans were 11-of-14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter including some key free throws over the final 44 seconds to complete the comeback.

Berry scored 14 points in the quarter and he went 6-of-6 from the foul line.

Lovely scored 9 points including a 3-pointer while Haney added 4 points for the Pointers.

The game was a shootout between Lovely and Berry. Lovely finished with 28 points including four 3-pointers while Berry had a game-high 34 points.

Smith scored 15 and Haney 11 for the Pointers while Breech had 15 and Loper 13 for the Trojans.

Portsmouth    19 10 17 26 = 72

South Point 16 20 15 17 = 68

PORTSMOUTH (14-5, 9-3): Isaiah Lewis 0 0 6-6 6, Donovan Breech 2 2 5-9 15, Malachi Loper 1 3 2-2 13,  Noah Livingston 1 0 0-0 2, LaVaughn Cobb 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Stein 0 0 0-0 0, Deandre Berry 12 1 7-11 34. Totals: 17 6 20-29. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Lewis, Livingston.

SOUTH POINT (12-6, 9-3): Caleb Lovely 6 4 4-5 28, Carter Smith 1 4 1-2 15, Elijah Wilburn 2 0 0-0 4, Davon Lewis 0 0 0-0 0,  Xathan Haney 2 1 4-7 11, Josh Childers 3 0 1-2 7, Landon Vance 0 0 0-0 0, Brayden Hanshaw 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9 10-18 68. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Hanshaw.