PORTSMOUTH - Team play gave the Ironton Fighting Tigers their 10th win. Their 10th win also gave Roger Zornes 500 wins.

Ironton gave a strong team effort to remain unbeaten in 10 games and provide Zornes with his milestone coaching victory.

"We played great team ball again. We're finding the open man and making the extra pass to get the better shot. We're not there yet, but we're coming," coach Zornes said.

Zornes spent the first 20 years as a head coach in Kentucky including 447 wins at Boyd County. Zornes said his record was listed erroneously to start the season which caused confusion about the landmark victory.

"It's a nice accomplishment, but you can't do anything without good players and I've always been blessed with good players who work hard and do everything I've asked of them. This group is no different," coach Zornes said.

Part of the group helping Zornes get his 500th career win was his own son, senior Joe Zornes, who had a solid game with 11 points, six rebounds and two assists to go along with a strong defensive effort.

Ironton's defense limited Portsmouth to just 16 of 52 shooting including 6 of 22 from the 3-point line.

The Fighting Tigers turned in one of their better shooting performances led by junior Dennis Gagai with a game-high 24 points. Gagai was 9 of 17 from the field and 3 of 6 from behind the arc. He had five rebounds, five steals and two assists.

"I feel a lot better," Gagai said. "I switched a couple of things in my shot and the last two games and the last week or so in practice I've shot a lot better. I've got a lot more confidence."

Brigham Waginger also hit double figures with 10 points and had five assists and three steals. Marcus Williams grabbed eight rebounds, and Greg Linn had 9 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Nicholas Chabot had 12 points to lead Portsmouth (1-9).

The game was settled quickly as Ironton jumped to a 7-0 lead as Gagai got a steal and layup at the 6:50 mark. An 11-0 run stretch the lead to 18-2 before the Trojans managed a couple of layups to make it 18-6 at the end of the quarter.

A turnaround jumper and two foul shots by Joe Zornes extended Ironton's lead to 40-16 with less than a minute to play in the half, and a layup by Williams off a nice pass from Gagai put the lead at 42-17 heading into halftime.

The Fighting Tigers were up 67-31 at the end of the third quarter sparked by a pair of 3-pointers by Gagai and 6 points from Waginger.

Layups by Patrick Kouns and Waginger started the fourth quarter while a 3-pointer by Chad Miller and a layup by Shawon Miller ended the game and gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game.

Ironton18242519-86

Portsmouth6111415-46

IRONTON (10-0):

Dennis Gagai 9-17 (3-6) 3-3 24, Brigham Waginger 4-11 (0-2) 2-2 10, Joe Zornes 4-8 (1-4) 2-2 11, Clint Howard 3-4 (0-0) 0-2 6, Marcus Williams 3-4 (0-0) 1-1 7, Brent McBride 1-2 (1-1) 1-2 4, Greg Linn 4-5 (0-0) 1-3 9, Patrick Kouns 3-3 (0-0) 2-5 8, Chad Miller 1-2 (1-1) 0-0 3, Brent Wirzfeld 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Shawon Miller 1-3 (0-2) 0-0 2, Brandon Walker 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 34-61

(6-16)

12-20

86. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 14-25=39 (Williams 8, Zornes 6, Linn 6, Gagai 5, Howard 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 16 (Waginger 5, Zornes 2, Gagai 2, Wirzfeld 2). Steals: 11 (Gagai 5, Waginger 3). Turnovers: 9.

PORTSMOUTH (1-9):

A.J. Johnson 1-4 (1-4) 1-2 4, Justin Nelson 2-11 (0-2) 1-2 5, Michael Valentine 2-7 (1-5) 0-0 5, Michael Purdy 0-4 (0-1) 0-0 0, Michael Hickman 0-1 (0-0) 3-4 3, Jeffrey Pendleton 3-4 (1-2) 0-0 7, Brian Taylor 2-8 (0-4) 0-0 4, Justin Skaggs 0-3 (0-0) 2-4 2, Nicholas Chabot 4-6 (3-4) 1-2 12, Cody Farney 2-4 (0-0) 0-0 4. Totals: 16-52

(6-22).