COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Hornets placed three players in double figures as they held off the River Valley Raiders 55-54 on Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Jordan Beals scored 18 points on a 9 of 16 shooting performance to lead the Hornets (8-2, 2-1). Alex Bare scored 14 points and Conor Markins 13 in the winning effort.

Chris Clemente had 13 points, Derek Flint 11 and Ethan Dovenbarger 10 for River Valley.

The Hornets took an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter before the Raiders tied the game at the half, 26-26.

Coal Grove pulled away to a 44-39 lead after three quarters but River Valley came back to take a 52-51 lead with 1:30 to play.

Coal Grove scored to regain the lead and missed on the front end of a one-and-one situation that could have given them some breathing room.

But the Raiders turned the ball over allowing the Hornets to get a layup and go up 55-52 with 15 seconds to play.

River Valley failed on a 3-point attempt and could only manage a 2-point goal at the buzzer.

Coal Grove hit 23 of 53 field goal attempts for 43 percent and 6 of 10 at the foul line.

River Valley was 22 of 44 from the floor for 50 percent and connected on 5 of 9 at the line.

On Tuesday, Coal Grove visits South Point and River Valley hosts Chesapeake in league games.

River Valley 8 18 13 15 = 54

Coal Grove 11 15 18 11 = 55

RIVER VALLEY (1-7, 0-3): Derek Flint 3 1 2-2 11, Kyle Bays 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Clemente 2 2 3-3 13, Trey Noble 0 1 0-1 3, Aaron Harrison 4 0 0-0 8, Joseph Lloyd 0 1 0-0 3, Austin Lewis 2 0 0-0 4, Ethan Dovenbarger 5 0 0-3 10. Totals: 22-44 5-9 54. Rebounds: 26. Turnovers: 24.

COAL GROVE (8-2, 2-1): Jordan Beals 9 0 0-0 18, Alex Bare 4 1 3-6 14, Colten Bryant 1 0 0-0 2, Conor Markins 2 2 3-4 13, Bryan Steele 1 0 0-0 2, Kyle Estep 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 23-53 6-12 55. Rebounds: 23. Turnovers: 20.