By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — Ugly wins beat pretty losses any day. Just as the South Point Pointers.

In their season opener, the Pointers held on in the fourth quarter to beat the Portsmouth Trojans 50-48 on Monday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“It was ugly, but it was a win and that’s all we care about,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise.

Davon Lewis hit a 3-pointer and scored 9 points while Brayden Hanshaw hit a triple and scored 5 and Ethan Hunt hit a 3-pointer as South Point took a 19-11 first quarter lead.

Malachi Loper and Jayden Brewer had 4 points each for Portsmouth (0-1, 0-1).

Ethan Layne had a 3-pointer and 2 foul shots as the Pointers saw their lead shrink to 28-23 at the half.

Connie Thomas hit a 3-pointer and had 5 points and Daequan Woods added 4 points for the Trojans in the quarter.

South Point opened up a 43-33 lead after 3 quarters as Hanshaw and Landon Vance scored 4 points each and the Pointers converted 5-of-6 at the foul line.

Woods and Brewer scored 4 points each for the Trojans.

The Pointers struggled with just 7p points in the fourth quarter — Layne had 5 of the points including a 3-pointer — but they held on for the win.

The Trojans converted 7-of-8 free throws with Thomas and Woods each hitting 3-pointers to fuel the comeback only to fall short.

Hanshaw led the Pointers with 11points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists. Layne got 12 points and Davon Lewis scored 11.

Portsmouth had 4 players in double figures led by Thomas with 15 points, Woods had 14, Loper 12 and Brewer 10.

South Point 19 9 15 7 = 50

Portsmouth 11 12 10 15 = 48

SOUTH POINT (1-0, 1-0): Kam Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Brayden Hanshaw 3 1 2-3 11, Davon Lewis 4 1 0-0 11, Ethan Hunt 0 1 5-6 8, Austin Evans 2 0 0-0 4, Koltan Layman Spurlock 0 0 0-0 0, Landon Vance 1 0 2-2 4, Ethan Layne 2 2 2-2 12, Casey Pope 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-36 11-13 50. 3-pt goals: 5-11. Rebounds 24 (Hanshaw 8, Hunt 4, Evans 4). Assists: 9 (Hunt 3, Hanshaw 2). Steals: 10 (Hanshaw 4, Hunt 2). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Vance.

PORTSMOUTH (0-1, 0-1): Connie Thomas 1 2 7-8 15, Daequan Woods 4 1 3-4 14, Malachi Loper 3 0 3-6 12, Kayleb Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Olynshay McKinley 0 0 0-0 0, Crisshawn Dukes 0 0 0-0 0, Jayden Brewer 3 0 4-4 10, Luke Stine 0 0 0-2 0. Totals: 11 3 17-22 48. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.