Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — For now, coach Nathan Speed said Fairland’s win on Tuesday was just another win.

For now.

Evan Maddox scored 35 points — 28 on the second half — as the Fairland Dragons beat the Coal Grove Hornets 77-66 to clinch at least a share of the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

But Speed said his team isn’t ready to celebrate right now. The Dragons must still play at Chesapeake on Saturday and a win would give them the title outright.

“It was a big win, but we don’t feel like we’ve won anything yet,” said Speed. “We still have got some business to take care of. We can’t relax. We know how tough it’s going to be.”

Chance Short scored 15 points as Fairland improved to 16-4 overall and 9-0 in the OVC. Kyle Raines added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots.

Conor Markins scored 20 points — he was 11 of 11 at the foul line — and pulled down 9 rebounds to lead the Hornets (15-5, 6-4).

Brandon Adkins had 14 points and 8 rebounds while Sean Paulus and Alex Bare scored 13 points each for the Hornets.

Coal Grove led 9-7 after the first quarter but Fairland came back to take a 24-18 halftime lead.

Maddox began to heat up in the third quarter as he scored 14 points and Fairland pulled ahead 47-36. Markins scored 7 points to keep the Hornets close.

Maddox had 14 more points in the fourth quarter as the Dragons built a 21-point lead.

Coal Grove rallied late as Paulus made a basket and Adkins had a steal and layup with 2:30 left to cut the deficit to 66-61.

But the Hornets were forced to foul and the Dragons used some clutch foul shooting in the quarter to seal the win. Maddox was 8 of 9, Cody Midkiff 4 of 4 and Short hit a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws.

“It was a fun game. Chance hit some big shots and Maddox just went off. We hit our free throws at the end and that was big,” said Speed.

“Midkiff and Raines did a good job again. They’re our seniors and they have helped us achieve the success we’ve had this season. They’ve been good leaders.”

Coal Grove plays South Point next Tuesday at Jackson in the Division III sectional tournament.

Coal Grove 9 9 18 30 = 66

Fairland 7 17 23 30 = 77

COAL GROVE (15-5, 6-4): Alex Bare 1-3 2-4 5-7 13, Sean Paulus 2-7 3-6 0-0 13, Isaiah Gunther 2-3 0-5 2-3 6, Brandon Adkins 7-10 0-2 0-2 14, Conor Markins 3-4 1-2 11-11 20, Joe Akers 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Austen “Red” Pleasants 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-47 18-23 66. 3-point goals: 6-19. Rebounds: 22 (Markins 9, Adkins 8). Assists: 5. Steals: 2. Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (16-4, 9-0): Cody Mdkiff 0-2 1-3 4-4 7, Chance Shore 2-4 3-4 2-3 15, Luke Phillips 3-4 0-0 2-2 8, Nathan Campbell 1-2 0-0 0-0 2, Kyle Raines 1-2 0- 2-2 4, Evan Maddox 10-13 1-4 12-16 35, Dionte Braye 3-3 0-0 0-0 6. Totals: 25-43 22-27 77. 3-point goals: 5-13. Rebounds: 18 (Raines 4). Assists: 14 (Maddox 3, Raines 3, Phillips 3). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 12. Blocked shots: 5 (Raines 2, Midkiff 2). Fouls: 23. Fouled out: None.