By Dustin Melchior

PROCTORVILLE— Fairland cruised past the South Point Pointers 89-65 in an OVC game Friday evening, remaining unbeaten in the league this season.
The Dragons (16-1, 11-0) can clinch at least a share of a second straight OVC title with a win or Gallipolis loss.
Dragons’ junior Luke Thomas recorded a game-high 24 points, including a 16-point outburst in the third quarter to put the game out of reach for South Point.
Thomas was one of five Dragons scoring in double figures on the game.
Fairland led 24-10 at the end of the first quarter, finding a variety of ways to score, but only went into halftime with a 42-34 lead, getting outscored 24-18 in the second quarter.
The Pointers (10-8, 6-5) had three double figure scorers on the night in sophomore Tayshaun Fox, who racked up 16 points, senior Logan Wade, who scored 14 and senior Elijah Adams, who totaled a team-high 20 points, including 12 points in the second quarter to keep the Pointers within striking distance going into the half.
“I thought our effort was there. We hung with them pretty well in the first half,” South Point head coach Travis Wise said.
“They hit some crucial threes right at the end of the first quarter and right before halftime.”
Fairland junior Gunner Short only hit two threes on the game, but both were right at the end of the first two quarters, killing any momentum South Point got.
“We got cold and they got hot in the third quarter. We lost Luke (Thomas) a couple times, got confused in a couple of our rotations and had some defensive breakdowns in the third quarter,” Wise said. “You can’t leave them open like that, cause they’ll get a lead and it’s hard to make a run.”
Short finished with 21 points on the night, while juniors Isaiah Howell scored 14, Keedrick Cunningham 13 and Ty Staten chipped in 11.
“I thought we did a good job with our half court offense. We were screening better, cutting better, moving better. We did a better job rebounding,” Fairland head coach Nathan Speed said. “Defensively, we have to close out with our hand up a little better and start contesting every shot.”
Speed said overall, he was pleased with his team’s performance, and having the opportunity to get Thomas involved a little more.
“He hasn’t been as active in the past couple games,” Speed said. “Tonight he had some put backs, drove the lane to get some nice easy layups and he was shooting the ball well.”
On Tuesday, Fairland travels to Portsmouth Tuesday while South Point hosts Gallipolis.
South Point    10     24    17   14     =    65
Fairland           24    18    25    22    =    89
SOUTH POINT (10-8, 6-5): Tayshaun Fox 1 2 8-10 16, Elijah Adams 6 2 2-3 20, Logan Wade 4 0 6-6 14, Cade Brandt 1 1 2-3 7, Cody Runyon 0 1 0-0 3, Jared Whitt 1 0 0-0 2, Douglas Shaffer 1 0 0-0 2, Dustin McCarty 0 0 1-2 1. Total fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (16-1, 11-0): Luke Thomas 5 4 2-2 24, Gunner Short 7 2 1-2 21, Isaiah Howell 6 0 2-2 14, Keedrick Cunningham 6 0 1-1 13, Ty Staten 1 0 9-12 11, Joel Lambiotte 1 0 2-2 4. Total Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.