Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE — Cory Borders won the battle but the Matthew Fraulini and the Portsmouth Trojans won the war.
Borders hit six 3-pointer goals and scored 29 points to outduel Fraulini who had 27 points, but the Trojans rallied from an early deficit to beat the Coal Grove Hornets 72-60 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.
Borders came out firing as he hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points to give Coal Grove a 20-10 lead.
Fraulini hit a trey and scored 7 points for the Trojans.
Amare Johnson made two 3-pointers, Fraulini had a triple and scored 4 points and Miles Shipp got 4 more points as Portsmouth rallied to take a 33-30 halftime edge.
Borders had a 3-pointer in the third quarter but Fraullini made his own triple and scored 11 points as Portsmouth extended its lead to 53-43.
In the fourth quarter, Fraulini had a triple and scored 5 points, Donovan Carr had a 3-pointer and two foul shots, Jesse Dixon also had a trey to help the Trojans outscore the Hornets 19-17.
Borders scored 8 points, Peyton Smith nailed a trifecta and Malachi Wheeler scored all 4 of his points to lead the Hornets (6-15, 3-11).
The rest of the Hornets produced a balanced offens as Evan Gannon, Tait Matney and Smith all scored 7 points and Jarren Hicks added 6.
Carr scored 14 points for the Trojans (9-12, 6-8).
UP NEXT: In the sectional tournament at Waverly, Coal Grove plays Minford at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Portsmouth faces Western at 8 p.m. on Monday.
Portsmouth 10 23 20 19 = 72
Coal Grove 20 10 13 17 = 60
PORTSMOUTH (9-12, 6-8): Amare Johnson 0 2 1-2 7, Matthew Fraulini 7 3 4-5 27, Dariyonne Bryant 1 0 3-4 5, Jack Workman 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Roe 0 0 2-3 2, Daewin Spencer 0 0 0-0 0, Jessie Dixon 1 2 0-2 8, Miles Shipp 3 0 1-2 7Chris Duff 0 0 2-3 2, Jay-lind Thomas 0 0 0-0 0, Donavan Carr 3 2 2-2 14. Totals: 15 9 15-23 72. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.
COAL GROVE (6-15, 3-11): Perry Kingery 0 0 0-0 0, CoryBorders 4 6 3-3 29, Evan Gannon 2 0 3-3 7, Peyton Smith 1 1 2-4 7, Tait Matney 2 0 3-4 7, Luke Ferguson 2 0 3-4 7, Malachi Wheeler 1 0 2-2 4, Dryzen Mullens 0 0 0-0 0, Jarren Hicks 2 0 2-6 6, Trey Hunt 0 0 0-2 0, Chase Hall 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 7 15-24 60. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.