COAL GROVE — Finally, someone wrote an alternative ending.

After losing several close games all season, the Coal Grove Hornets took out their frustrations Friday night with a 62-53 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Fairland Dragons.

Coal Grove trailed by as many as eight points in the first and third quarters, then battled back in the fourth quarter to get the win on Senior Night.

“This has sort of been the story all season,” Hornets coach Mike Waller said. “We always have one bad quarter, we battled back and then it comes down to the end and we get beat in a close game.

“After the River Valley game, we hoped we learned from the close ones and how to win and maybe tonight we did that.”

The senior trio of Matt and Evan Melvin and Randy Wise proved pivotal in the win. Evan Melvin had 16 points including two clutch 3-pointers. Matt Melvin had 12 points and Wise hit some clutch foul shots to go with six steals and four assists.

Adam Bare had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Coal Grove which improved to 6-12 and got its first OVC win after eight losses.

“I knew we were going to get (an OVC win). I’m glad it came on this evening,” Matt Melvin said.

Fairland was led by Adam Fuller with 16 points. Dustin Bumgardner had 10 points and nine rebounds while Josh Johnson added 10 points.

“Defensively right now we’re not very good in the halfcourt set,” Fairland coach Chad Belville said.

“The two biggest plays of game were when Wise drove in the lane and kicked to Melvin and he hit the 3s. All we worked on for two days was not letting them get the ball in the paint and the second half they killed us.”

The two big 3-pointers came in the fourth quarter right after Bare scored inside to give Coal Grove a 46-45 lead.

Evan Melvin then hit back-to-back treys that extended the lead to 52-45 with 4:42 to play.

“I can’t be nervous. I just took the shots and hoped they would go in,” Evan Melvin said.

Wise had three key steals in the fourth quarter that led to baskets including a layup by Matt Melvin with 2:37 left that pushed the lead to 55-47.

“Coach told us to right around the screen,” Wise said. “We just hedged over the picks and beat them to the spot.”

Zach Murphy hit two key free throws and Bare sealed the win with two free throws with eight seconds to play.

Fairland (10-8, 5-4) led 17-9 in the first quarter before a layup by Tyler Branch got Coal Grove within 19-15.

Coal Grove went on an 8-0 run to begin the second quarter and built a 31-23 lead following back-to-back jumpers by Evan Melvin.

The Dragons scored the final seven points of the half to trail just 31-30 at the break.

Fairland scored eight unanswered points to begin the second half and led 38-32. Coal Grove used two steals and layups by Murphy to make it 43-40 and a short jumper by Matt Melvin just before the end of the quarter cut the Fairland lead to 45-44.

Fairland1911158=53

Coal Grove15161318=62

FAIRLAND (10-8, 5-4): Adam Fuller 8-15 (0-2) 0-1 16, Rich Staggs 1-6 (0-0) 0-0 2, Cole Hatfield 311 (2-6) 0-0 8, J.B. Smith 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Dustin Bumgardner 4-6 (0-0) 2-6 10, Josh Johnson 5-10 (0-0) 0-0 10, Zach Jordan 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Michael Lamb 2-6 (0-2) 1-1 5, Ethan Long 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Chris Barnett 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Kyle Wise 0-2 (0-1) 0-2 0. Totals: 24-58

(2-11)

3-9

53. Fouls: 28. Fouled out: Fuller (4th 0:42). Rebounds: 18-21=39 (Bumgardner 9, Smith 5, Lamb 5, Fuller 5, Hatfield 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 6 (Hatfield 3, Johnson 2). Steals: 10 (Johnson 2, Hatfield 3, Fuller 2, Staggs 2). Turnovers: 27.

COAL GROVE (6-12, 1-8): Zach Murphy 2-3 (0-0) 4-6 8, Matt Melvin 6-12 (0-0) 0-1 12, Evan Melvin 6-11 (2-3) 2-7 16, Randy Wise 0-8 (0-3) 8-12 8, Adam Bare 4-7 (0-0) 4-7 12, Tyler Branch 3-6 (0-0) 0-0 6. Totals: 21-47

(2-6)

18-33

62. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 11-19=30 (Bare 13, M. Melvin 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 10 (Wise 4, Bare 3). Steals: 15 (Wise 6, Murphy 6). Turnovers: 21.