By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

No Zac Carter, no problem.

With Carter and his 25.5 scoring average out due to an injured ankle, 6-foot-6 junior Trey Fletcher scored a career-high 37 points and the Ironton Fighting Tigers rallied from 9 points down to beat the Brooke Point (Va.) Black Hawks 62-58 on Friday in the fourth annual Ironton Classic.

“I was real proud of their effort as a team. It was the winning as much as the growth,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.

“There was as much going wrong the whole game and they stayed with it. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re going in the right direction.”

Besides Fletcher who also had 13 rebounds, Ironton (7-0) got 10 points off the bench from Trevor White.

Ironton dominated the boards 37-15.

Mario Gillis had 22 points, Cees Carter 13 and Ryan Corp 12 to lead the Black Hawks (5-3).

Brooke Point was deadly from long-range the first three quarters of the game. Corp hit four triples and Gills made three more. The Black Hawks hit 11 3-point goals for the game but only one in the fourth quarter as they scored just 6 points.

The Fighting Tigers trailed 52-45 heading into the fourth quarter after Fletcher hit a 17-footer just before the third quarter buzzer.

Fletcher had a 3-point play, White a put-back, and Josh Glover stole the ball and fed Dion Brown for a layup as Ironton quickly tied the game midway through the fourth quarter.

Two free throws by Fletcher at the 3:22 mark put Ironton up before Gills tied the game.

Another 3-point play by Fletcher with 29 seconds to go put the lead at 58-54 but Gills’ trey cut the deficit to one.

White was fouled on a rebound and made two free throws with nine seconds left and it was 60-57.

Cees Carter was fouled with two seconds on the clock and hit the first of two shots. He missed the second attempt on purpose but Fletcher came up with the rebound and was fouled. Fletcher made both foul shots to cap the scoring.

“ Teams try to take you out of your game and force you outside. He was still getting stuff in the paint,” said LaFon.

Ironton fell behind 9-3 in the first quarter but a trifecta by Fletcher gave Ironton a 16-15 lead.

Brooke Point hit three 3-pointers and added a 3-point play to lead 34-30 only to see Fletcher drain a triple of his own and it was 34-33 at the break.

The Black Hawks opened up a 50-41 lead in the third quarter before Nolan Johnson’s layupwith just under two minutes on the clock stopped the run and then Fletcher hit his shot at the end of the quarter to set up the furious comeback.

Ironton hosts Chesapeake on Friday.

Brooke Point 15 19 18 6 = 58

Ironton 16 17 12 17 = 62

BROOKE POINT (5-3): Mario Gills 6 3 1-1 22, Ryan Corp 0 4 0-0 12, Tharp 0 0 1-2 1, Nate Phelps 0 1 0-0 3, Cees Carter 2 2 3-4 13, T.T. Felder 2 0 0-3 4, Jolen Cotton 0 0 0-0 0, Shawn Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Eddie 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 21-50 5-10 58. 3-point goals: 11-26. Rebounds: 4-11=15 (Carter 6, Felder 5). Assists: 12 (Carter 5, Felder 3). Steals: 9 (Carter 6). Turnovers: 5. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Corp.

IRONTON (7-0): Trey Fletcher 9 4 7-8 37, Dion Brown 2 0 0-0 4, Nolan Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Josh Glover 0 0 1-2 1, Aaron Stephens 2 0 0-1 4, Trevor White 3 0 4-8 10, Tanner Dutey 2 0 0-0 4, Darrius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Garred 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-43 12-19. 3-point goals: 4-6. Rebounds: 12-25=37 (Fletcher 13, White 7, Glover 5, Brown 5, Stephens 5). Assists: 6 (Glover 3). Steals: 2. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.