By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

PEDRO — For the Rock Hill Redmen it was “gut check” time.

Playing on back-to-back nights, Rock Hill began to tire in the second half. But the Redmen dug deep and gutted out a 42-38 Ohio Valley Conference win over the River Valley Raiders Wednesday.

“We didn’t play well (Tuesday) night against Minford, but our defense wasn’t too bad tonight,” said Rock Hill coach Bob Wilds.

“I think fatigue set in during the third quarter, but we played through it, we hung in there and pulled out a win.”

The Redmen not only played well defensively, the but played strong on the boards by pulling down 44 rebounds.

“We did a much better job rebounding than when we played up there,” Wilds said referring to a 55-42 loss a few weeks ago when his team had just 16 rebounds.

Andy Knipp had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Rock Hill (7-10, 3-5). Mitchell Patterson added nine points and four assists while Devin Darby had eight points and six rebounds. Trey Wilds and Shane Russell grabbed five rebounds each.

Dominique Peck scored 17 and Austin Lewis 10 for River Valley (7-10, 3-5) who did not play on Tuesday.

Peck and Lewis combined for all 12 River Valley points in the first quarter while Knipp and Patterson had all 10 points for Rock Hill.

Six different players scored in the second quarter as Rock Hill outscored the Raiders 16-6 to take a 26-18 halftime lead.

The fatigue began to take its toll in the second half as the Redmen made only four of 12 shots in the paint the entire half.

Cody Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers and Kyle Bryant added another as River Valley came back to take a two-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Redmen rallied to go up 37-36 and they were 6 of 10 from the line in the fourth quarter with Darby making 5 of 8 to give them the win.

Rock Hill plays at South Point Friday.

River Valley 12 6 9 11 = 38

Rock Hill 10 16 4 12 = 42

RIVER VALLEY (7-10, 3-5): Trey Noble 1 0 0-0 2, Aaron Harrison 0 0 0-1 0, Kyle Bryant 0 1 0-0 3, Austin Lewis 4 0 2-7 10, Dominique Peck 6 1 2-3 17, Derek Flint 0 0 0-0 0, Cody Smith 0 2 0-0 6. Totals: 11 4 4-11 38. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

ROCK HILL (7-10, 3-5): Jonathan Schwab 1 0 0-0 2, Drew Kidd 1 0 0-0 2, Will McCollister 1 0 0-0 2, Shane Russell 1 0 3-4 5, Devin Darby 0 1 5-8 8, Trey Wilds 0 0 0-0 0, Mitchell Patterson 1 2 1-2 9, Andy Knipp 7 0 0-0 14. Totals: 15-49 9-14 42. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 3-12. Rebounds: 10 offense, 34 defense = 44 (Knipp 11, Darby 6, Wilds 5, Russell 5). Assists: 9 (Patterson 4, Wilds 2, Russell 2). Steals: 6 (Russell 2). Turnovers: 10.