For Dennis Gagai, the end came too soon.

The Ironton Fighting Tigers’ all-time leading scorer was in the starting lineup once again Sunday when the Northern Kentucky University Norsemen lost 87-82 to Bellarmine in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II regional tournament.

The Norse were runners-up in the GLVC tournament but earned an at-large berth in the postseason. NKU lost 91-89 to Kentucky Wesleyan in the GLVC finals but beat the same team 76-74 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

NKU built an 18-point lead before the Norse rallied only to fall short. It was the third time the Norse lost to Bellarmine this season. Gagai had nine points including a pair of 3-point goals.

A four-year letterman, Gagai was the leading scorer in five games this season. The 6-foot-4 senior guard also led in rebounding on two occasions. He led the team with 56 3-pointers and averaged 7.8 points a game.

Keeney at NCAA

Chris Keeney will have a front row seat for the NCAA Tournament.

A senior at Cleveland State, Keeney will be watching the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland but it won’t be that enjoyable. Keeney will be working keeping statistics for the games.

A graduate of St. Joseph, Keeney is the son of Sue and Kevin Keeney of Ironton.

New blog page

After putting up a web page in honor of Ironton’s 1979 and 1989 state championship football team, Tim Hodges is at it again only this time it’s a blog page that offers an off-season discussion venue.

Hodges was a fullback and linebacker for the 1979 team who went on to play at Akron. His web page is tytandan.com and his blog site is tytandan.com/blog

Hodges’ most recent post was about a father-son story featuring Joe Fletcher and son Trey.

Joe Fletcher was a starter for the 1979 Ironton state championship football team and also the center on the basketball team that won the district title 32 years ago.

Trey was the center on this year’s Ironton team that finished district runners-up. However, Trey was a starter last year when Ironton won the district and were regional runners-up.

One story on Hodges’ blog page was about his old varsity “I” jacket and finally putting his state champion logo on the coat.

If you have a story for Tim, he welcomes the e-mail.

—— Sinatra ——

Jim Walker is sports editor of The Ironton Tribune.