COAL GROVE – After struggling for three quarters, the Ironton Fighting Tigers needed someone to step up.

Wednesday, December 20, 2000

COAL GROVE – After struggling for three quarters, the Ironton Fighting Tigers needed someone to step up.

Point guard Drew Mains not only stepped up, he took some giant steps.

With Ironton down by nine points early in the fourth quarter, Mains took charge and sparked the Fighting Tigers to a 60-51 come-from-behind win Tuesday night over the Coal Grove Hornets.

"Drew Mains took over the game the fourth quarter. I don’t know if he won the game, but he sure put us in a position to win," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said.

Mains scored 10 of his team-high 15 points the fourth quarter including 5-of-6 from the foul line. He also had four rebounds, two assists, and a key steal in the quarter.

Ironton (4-0) also got 14 points and six rebounds from Tommy Lutz while Isaac Hannon added 13 points and Chris Haney grabbed 10 rebounds.

Ryan Young had a game-high 18 points for Coal Grove (2-2). Jason Winters scored 14 points and had four rebounds plus two steals.

"We can’t play any better defense than that. We cut down their transition game," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said. "But we had so many shots that rolled in and out, and Mains just took over the game."

Neither team shot the ball well. Ironton was 19-of-47 for 40.4 percent. That figure was inflated when Ironton hit 8-of-12 the fourth quarter.

Coal Grove was 19-of-49 from the floor for 38.8 percent after making 8-of-13 the first quarter.

One of the deciding factors came at the foul line in the fourth quarter. Ironton got the lead forcing Coal Grove to foul, and the Fighting Tigers responded by converting 15-of-20 the final stanza.

The Fighting Tigers were 20-of-29 for the game. Coal Grove was 10-of-18.

Young made two foul shots to begin the fourth quarter and the Hornets were up 37-28. Lutz then sank two foul shots and Mains made a layup.

Beau Webb hit a foul shot and then Mains drained a 3-pointer. Haney followed up a missed shot and Mains made four straight free throws to tie the game at 41-41 with 4:27 to play.

A putback by Lutz with 3:10 left gave Ironton its first lead at 44-43, but Webb was fouled and sank two free throws seconds later and the Hornets were back on top.

A layup by Lutz off a nifty pass by Mains sent Ironton in front for good at 48-45 with 2:24 to play. Haney had a layup and Hannon scored thanks to another Mains’ assist and it was 50-45. Josh Harmon converted two free throws with 1:04 left and Ironton now led 52-45.

Hannon was 5-of-6 from the line over the final 32 seconds to seal the win.

Coal Grove had gone up 18-10 the first quarter as Young scored nine points. But the pace slowed considerably the second quarter and it was just 22-16 at the break.

Ironton 10 6 12 32 – 60

Coal Grove 18 4 13 16 – 51

IRONTON (4-0): Drew Mains 4-8 (1-3) 6-7 15, Isaac Hannon 4-10 (0-2) 5-8 13, Chris Haney 2-6 (0-0) 4-7 8, Josh Harmon 2-10 (0-0) 3-4 7, Tommy Lutz 6-8 (0-0) 3-4 14, Chris Frazer 0-4 (0-0) 0-0 0, Andy Brown 1-1 (1-1) 0-0 3, Josh Sands 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47 (2-6) 20-29 60. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Haney. Rebounds: 11-24=35 (Haney 10, Lutz 6, Mains 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 7 (Mains 4, Harmon 1, Frazer 1, Hannon 1). Steals: 12 (Mains 4, Harmon 3, Haney 2, Lutz 1, Sands 1, Hannon1). Turnovers: 18. FG% – 40.4. FT% – 68.9. 3pt% – 33.3.

COAL GROVE (2-2): Jason Winters 6-10 (1-3) 1-2 14, Beau Webb 0-2 (0-0) 4-6 4, Ryan Young 7-22 (1-6) 3-4 18, Joe Sark 1-2 (0-0) 0-2 2, Jason Adams 3-5 (0-0) 0-0 6, Eric Tackett 2-7 (1-2) 2-4 7, Jacob Ball 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brandon Waller 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-49 (3-11) 10-18 51. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Adams, Sark. Rebounds: 5-18=23 (Sark 5, Young 4, Webb 4, Winters 4). Assists: 3 (Young 1, Adams 1, Tackett 1). Steals: 8 (Winters 2, Webb 2, Adams 2). Turnovers: 19. FG% – 38.8. FT% – 55.6. 3pt% – 27.3.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 46, Coal Grove 45. Ironton: Craig Lewis 14, Josh Sands 10, Jeff Pleasant 9; Coal Grove: Gibson 12, Harrison 11, Caleb Potter 10.