JACKSON - The South Point Pointers are very open minded. All wins look the same.

Good.

The Pointers got an ugly win Monday, but a win just the same as they beat the Minford Falcons 61-52 in the opening round of the Division III sectional tournament.

"It was kind of ragged, but at this time of year you take wins whether you play well or you don't," Pointers coach Gary Norris said. "We had a lot of mistakes early, but we cleaned it up."

South Point had seven turnovers in the first quarter but still managed to take a 14-13 lead when Chris Brown hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

But the Pointers had just two turnovers in the second quarter and one in the third as they began to get their offense in gear.

A layup by Jeremiah Taylor with 2:33 left in the half put the Pointers up 28-23. A 3-pointer by Cody Dodridge got Minford within 28-26.

Taylor's foul shot put the lead at 29-26 only to have Andrew Zempter score on a layup with a minute left and it was 29-28 at the half.

John Slone's layup to start the third quarter gave Minford a 30-29 lead and back-to-back layups by Sean Childers put the Falcons up 35-31.

But Chase McWhorter banked in a 3-pointer at the 1:28 mark to put the Pointers ahead for good at 40-38. Layups by David Absher and Ryan Hong extended the South Point lead to 44-38 at the end of the quarter.

J.T. Terry hit a 3-pointer with four minutes to go and Taylor followed with a layup to push the South Point lead to 51-45.

"We got behind their press and scored a few times, and J.T. made that big 3," Norris said. "We tried to spread the floor and get good spacing. We knew going in they would run that triangle press."

McWhorter, Hong and Brown each sank two foul shots over the final 1:25 to seal the Pointers fifth straight win.

Taylor had 15 points to lead the Pointers. Brown and McWhorter scored 13 each and Terry added 11 points.

McGraw had 12 points to lead Minford.

South Point (10-11) now plays Chesapeake at 8:45 p.m. Friday in the sectional finals.

South Point14151517-61

Minford13151014-52

SOUTH POINT (10-11):

Chris Brown 4-11 (3-8) 2-2 13, Ryan Hong 1-5 (0-3) 2-3 4, J.T. Terry 4-10 (2-4) 1-1 11, Chase McWhorter 3-10 (3-5) 4-4 13, Jeremiah Taylor 6-12 (0-0) 3-6 15, Rocky Roe 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, David Absher 2-2 (0-0) 1-1 5, Levi Garred 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 20-50

(8-19)

13-18

61. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-17=26 (Taylor 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 8 (McWhorter 4). Steals: 12 (Hong 3, Brown 3). Turnovers: 15.. FG% – 40.0. FT% – 72.2. 3pt% – 42.1.

MINFORD:

Kyle McGraw 6-10 (0-0) 0-0 12, Sean Childers 2-3 (0-0) 0-0 6, Cody Dodridge 4-11 (1-6) 0-0 9, Andre Zempter 4-9 (1-3) 0-0 9, Luke Slone 3-7 (3-6) 0-0 9, John Slone 1-1 (0-0) 3-4 5, Mark Shonkwiler 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Michael Miller 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Joey Preston 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 21-46

(5-16)

5-8

52. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: John Slone (4th 1:25). Rebounds: 8-17=25 (Zempter 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 12 (McGraw 4). Steals: 8 (McGraw 3). Turnovers: 18. FG% – 45.7. FT% – 62.5. 3pt% – 31.3.