PEDRO – The outcome was as easy as one-two-three.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

PEDRO – The outcome was as easy as one-two-three.

Ironton coach Chris Barnes said the Fighting Tigers 66-61 loss to the Rock Hill Redmen was due to three things.

"It came down to three things. We missed five or six easy layups the first half, the second half it came down to missed free throws, and three, (David) Schug was the best player on the floor," said Barnes. "It wasn’t his scoring as much as it was his passing. He found the open man."

Schug did score 24 points, but he was 11 of 14 from the line to boost his numbers. He had four assists and five rebounds.

Holding another key for the Redmen were Rickie McDonie and Roger Joseph. Second-leading scorer Isaac Kitchen was held to just one 3-pointer, but McDonie and Joseph had 13 points each and McDonie grabbed eight rebounds.

Ironton (9-10) was led by Tommy Lutz with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Sands had 16 points and five rebounds while Derique Bacon added nine points and seven rebounds.

Overall, Ironton was 24 of 53 from the floor for 45.3 percent and 12 of 18 at the line for 67 percent. Rock Hill had five fewer field goals but converted 26 of 37 from the line.

The Redmen (13-6) were 10 of 16 at the line the fourth quarter and Ironton was 3 of 7.

"You have to make layups and free throws," said Barnes. "We played good, but not real well. Rock Hill was just the better team tonight."

Ironton led 5-4 on a 3-pointer by Sands near the midway point of the first quarter only to have Schug score four straight points and give Rock Hill a 9-7 lead at the end of the stanza.

A layup by Lutz and a three-point play by Sands gave Ironton a 16-12 lead with 4:31 left in the half. The lead was 17-16 on a foul shot by Bacon, but Rock Hill went on a 6-0 run to lead 22-17. Lutz hit a 15-footer with 35 seconds on the clock as Ironton got within 27-23 at the break.

The Fighting Tigers tied the game at 38-38 on two foul shots by Craig Lewis late in the third quarter. Rock Hill responded with a 7-0 run capped by George Mullins’ three-point play and then Ironton’s Drew Mains made a layup to cut the deficit to 45-40 as the quarter ended.

Bacon’s layup and a follow-up shot by Sands narrowed the gap to 46-44 with 6:22 remaining, but Rock Hill pulled away to a 53-45 lead on a 3-pointer by Kitchen at the 4:35 mark. The lead was as many big as 62-51 before Bacon’s layup at the buzzer set the final score.

Ironton 7 16 17 21 – 61

Rock Hill 9 18 18 21 – 66

IRONTON (9-10): Aaron Quinn 2-9 (0-4) 1-3 5, Josh Sands 6-16 (1-2) 3-3 16, Drew Mains 2-5 (0-0) 0-1 4, Derique Bacon 4-8 (0-0) 1-3 9, Tommy Lutz 8-9 (0-0) 3-4 19, Andy Brown 0-2 (0-2) 2-2 2, Craig Lewis 2-3 (0-1) 2-2 6, Matt White 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Ben Murphy 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Kevin Williams 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 24-53 (1-9) 12-18 61. Fouls: 27. Fouled out: Mains, Brown. Rebounds: 11-19=30 (Lutz 10, Sands 7, Sands 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 9 (Mains 4, Sands 2, Lewis 2). Steals: 6 (Mains 3). Turnovers: 18. FG% – 45.3. FT% – 66.7. 3pt% – 11.1.

ROCK HILL (13-6): Isaac Kitchen 0 1 0-1 3, Ryan Townsend 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Rickie McDonie 5-8 (0-1) 3-4 13, Roger Joseph 5-8 (0-0) 3-6 13, David Schug 6-13 (1-2) 11-=14 24, George Mullins 2-5 (0-1) 0 5-6 9, Gabe Ruggles 0-2 (0-0) 4-6 4, Donald Cade 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-46 (2-9) 26-37 66. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Technical: Kitchen. Rebounds: 8-17=25 (McDonie 8, Schug 5). Assists: 7 (Schug 4, Ryan Townsend 2). Deadball/team rebounds: 2. Steals: 4 (four with 1 each). Turnovers: 16.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 53, Rock Hill 24. Ironton (14-5) scoring: Craig Lewis 16, Kevin Williams 8, Ben Murphy 8. Rock Hill scoring: Derrick Martin 8, Zach Mullins 8.