Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — The South Point Pointers have been hit with COVID shut downs on three occasions. They finally played their first game of the season on Tuesday.
And while getting to play is finally some good news, the Pointers didn’t have leading scorer Austin Webb and starter Jake Adams due to injuries.
So, what does all that mean?
“We just couldn’t score,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise as the Pointers fell 54-40 to the Portsmouth Trojans in an Ohio Valley Conference game.
“I was worried about our offense going into the game. With Webb and Adams still out, I was worried. But even at that, you can’t turn the ball over 20 times and expect to win, especially against a good team.”
Evan with all their problems, the Pointers (0-1, 0-1) were still in the game until the fourth quarter.
South Point led 11-10 after the first quarter as Nakyan Turner had 4 points and Mason Kazee hit a 3-pointer. Miles Shipp had 4 points for Portsmouth (1-0, 1-0).
But the offense began to go cold in the second quarter as six different Trojans scored as they rallied to take the lead.
The game was tied three times and there 10 lead changes in the first half.
Portsmouth opened up its biggest lead of the half when Drew Roe scored with 8 seconds left to make it 23-19 at the break.
The Trojans maintained their lead in the second half and the closest the Pointers could get was 32-29 with 1:30 left in the third quarter. Chris Duff and Tyler Duncan each hit 3-pointers and Donovan Carr had 4 points in the pivotal third quarter.
Darryl Taylor and Turner combined for all 10 of the Pointers points.
Turner hit a trey and scored 8 points while Taylor added 4 more in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans countered with 6 points from Dariyonne Bryant, 5 points each from Carr and Shipp, three foul shots by Duff and a triple by Amare Johnson to outscore South Point 22-11.
Turner scored a game-high 22 points and had 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals to lead the team. Taylor added nine points to go with 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Portsmouth had four players in double figures as Carr got 13 points, Shipp scored 11 and both Bryant and Duff got 10.
South Point 11 8 10 11 = 40
Portsmouth 10 13 13 22 = 58
SOUTH POINT (0-1, 0-1): Maddox McCallister 0 0 0-0 0, Nakyan Turner 8 1 3-6 22, Erikai Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Kazee 0 1 0-0 3, Darry Taylor 3 0 3-5 9, Malik Pegram 0 0 0-0 0, Carmelo Sammons 1 0 0-0 2, Xander Dornon 0 0 0-0 0, Cody Brandt 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 16-40 6-11 40. 3-pt goals: 2-9. Rebounds: 21 (Turner 6, Taylor 4, Kazee 4). Assists: 7 (Turner 3, Kazee 2, Sammons 2). Steals: 9 (Turner 3, Brandt 2, Taylor 2). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.
PORTSMOUTH (1-0, 1-0): Amare Johnson 0 1 3-6 6, Drew Roe 2 0 0-0 4, Dariyonne Bryant 4 0 2-4 10, Chris Duff 1 2 3-4 10, Daewin Spence 0 0 0-0 0, Donovan Carr 5 0 3-9 13, Michael Duncan 0 0 0-0 0, Miles Shipp 5 0 1-3 11, Tyler Duncan 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 4 12-26 58. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.