The Ironton Fighting Tigers ran the table.

The kitchen table, that is. The one they really want is the dining room table.

Ironton celebrated its first-ever unbeaten regular season by blasting the Portsmouth Trojans 99-61 Friday at the Harold Conley Sports Center to finish 20-0.

But coach Roger Zornes and the Ironton players were more focused on the postseason schedule that begins Friday at Jackson.

"Even after the last game, you didn't see

this team hooping and hollering. We made history again, but our job is not done," coach Zornes said referring to Tuesday's win over previously unbeaten Chesapeake.

"This team is about the tournament. After the game one of the players asked, 'When are we practicing?' They're locked in."

Senior forward Joe Zornes was proud of the accomplishment, but remained low key.

"It's great to make history. It's an honor," Joe Zornes said. "But this team is geared for the tournament. This is just for bragging rights. Our goal is the state tournament."

Marcus Williams, also a senior forward, almost shrugged at the rare accomplishment.

"Right now this is a step in the next direction. It means something to go 20-0, but now it's a new season," Williams said.

Williams and Joe Zornes were part of a starting lineup that all scored in double figures along with backup senior guard Shawon Miller. Dennis Gagai scored 21 points, Zornes had 17, Brigham Waginger 15, Cliff Howard 11, Williams 10 and Miller 11.

The game began as a shootout. Portsmouth hit 8 of its first 9 shots and took a 16-14 lead on a 3-pointer by Justin Nelson with two minutes left in the first quarter.

But after coach Zornes called a time out, Williams had two straight steals for baskets plus a foul shot to put Ironton up for good at 19-16 and it was 21-18 at the end of the quarter.

"(Coach Zornes) told us to step up our defense. They were scoring because we were letting them penetrate to the basket and we had to pick up our intensity," Williams said.

Ironton went on an 11-0 run at the start of the second quarter beginning with a layup by Williams. Gagai hit two 3-pointers in the spurt and it was 32-18.

Brent McBride had a steal that he converted into a 3-point play and Joe Zornes nailed a 3-pointer to make it 47-21.

Brian Wirzfeld followed up a missed shot and Greg Linn hit a short jumper to extend Ironton's lead to 56-28 at the half.

"We were rushing so much on offense we made one pass and then we're out of position to make a play," coach Zornes said. "They recovered from it and did what they had to do. They picked up the defense and converted all 15 turnovers into points."

The third quarter was more of the same as Howard and Waginger scored 9 points each and the lead ballooned to 82-42.

Miller led the backups by draining three treys along with a 17-footer.

Portsmouth (4-14) was led by Nelson with a game-high 27 points including five 3-pointers.

The best previous regular season was a Ralph Snead-led 1957-58 team that went 17-1.

In the reserve game, Ironton (18-2) beat Portsmouth 69-55 as Chad Miller scored 28 points and Brandon Walker 21. Cody Farney and Charlie Doll scored 16 each for the Trojans.

Portsmouth18101419-61

Ironton21352617-99

PORTSMOUTH (4-14):

Justin Nelson 10-15 (5-7) 2-2 27, Michael Valentine 4-7 (0-1) 1-1 9, Bryan Taylor 3-6 (0-0) 1-1 7, Antonio Johnson 3-5 (1-3) 0-0 7 Michael Hickman 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Michael Purdy 0-3 (0-3) 0-0 0, Jeff Pendleton 0-2 (0-1) 4-4 4, Nicholas Chabot 0-4 (0-2) 0-0 0, Justin Skaggs 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Cody Farney 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Charlie Doll 0-2 (0-0) 2-2 2, Bobby Porter 1-1 (1-1) 0-0 3. Totals: 22-49

(7-18)

10-11

61. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 8-10=18 (Nelson 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 3. Steals: 2. Turnovers: 21.

IRONTON (20-0):

Dennis Gagai 8-13 (4-9) 1-2 21, Brigham Waginger 5-9 (1-4) 4-5 15, Joe Zornes 6-11 (2-4) 3-4 17, Cliff Howard 5-7 (0-0) 1-3 11, Marcus Williams 4-7 (0-0) 2-2 10, Shawon Miller 4-6 (3-5) 0-0 11, Patrick Kouns 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brent McBride 1-2 (0-1) 2-3 4, Greg Linn 1-1 (0-0) 0-1 2, Brian Wirzfeld 3-5 (1-3) 0-0 7, Michael Phillips 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1, Brandon Walker 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Chad Miller 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0, T.J. Keith 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 37-63

(11-25)

14-22

99. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-16=28 (Zornes 7, Howard 3, Williams 3). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 16 (Waginger 8, Zornes 3). Steals: 11 (Williams 3, Waginger 3, Gagai 2). Turnovers: 8.