Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

GALLIPOLIS — The Ironton Fighting Tigers went from pace car to race car.
Ironton got control of the game’s tempo and turned an early deficit into a big lead in a 56-46 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Gallipolis Blue Devils on Friday.
Ironton trailed after the first quarter before coming back to take the lead at halftime and led by as many as 25 points.
‘In the second and third quarters we played really well,” said Ironton coach P.J. Fitch.
“They’ve got a lot of size and can neutralize and make things tough for Reid (Carrico) without double teaming him in the post, so we had to do it with defensive pressure.
“We’ve got to run their bigs and get (6-foot-6 Isaac Clary) away from the rim. The first quarter we played to their pace. They have some good athletes and more size than us and to beat them we have to make it an up-tempo game.”
The up-tempo game helped Trent Hacker who scored 15 points to lead Ironton (6-5, 5-3).
Trent Milleson scored 14 points including 8 in the second quarter as Ironton avenged an early season loss to the Blue Devils.
Logan Blouir had 13 points for Gallipolis (5-8, 2-6) while Clary had 12 points — 11 in the first half.
The game was 2-2 when Gallipolis went on a 10-2 run and it was 12-4 with 2:57 left in the quarter.
Trent Hacker had a driving layup and Collin Freeman hit a baseline shot to get Ironton within 12-8 to end the quarter.
Down 14-8 after a Clary layup, Ironton got 3-pointers from Jordan Grizzle and Trent Milleson and then Milleson hit a 19-footer, Hacker a layup and Milleson another trifecta as Ironton scored 13 unanswered points to lead 21-14.
A couple of layups by Clary cut the deficit to 24-20 only to have Gage Salyers drained a triple and a steal by Freeman led to a putback by Hacker and it was 29-20 at the break.
A 3-pointer by Hacker and a layup by Salyers to start the second half gave Ironton a 34-20 lead.
Milleson banked in a short jumper, Brayden Easterling got a steal and turned it into a layup and then Milleson converted a 3-point play as Ironton went up 45-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Hacker’s putback and Easterling’s 3-pointer gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game at 50-25.
“Brayden played well. He’s been struggling shooting the ball. We were happy to see ball go through the rim and he did some other things. He got some rebounds and some steals. He did other things we wanted to see,” said Fitch.
Gallipolis then put together a comeback by going on a 13-0 run to get within 52-39 before a layup by Hacker stopped the bleeding and Ironton’s starters all returned and got back in control.
“Defensive intensity matters. We might have put some jayvee guys in there a little early,” said Fitch.
On Tuesday, Ironton host Rock Hill and Gallipolis goes to Coal Grove.
Ironton 8 21 16 11 = 56
Gallipolis 12 8 4 20 = 46
IRONTON (6-5, 5-3): Gage Salyers 1 1 0-0 5, Trent Hacker 6 1 0-3 15, Jordan Grizzle 0 2 0-0 6, Reid Carrico 1 0 4-4 6, Collin Freeman 1 0 0-0 2, Trent Milleson 3 2 2-3 14, Caleb Hopper 0 0 0-0 0, Brayden Easterling 2 1 0-1 7, Tayden Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Cameron Deere 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-45 7-13 56. 3-pt goals: 7-15. Rebounds: 10-O, 22-D = 32 (Carrico 7, Hacker 7, Easterling 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 10 (Carrico 3, Grizzle 3). Steals: 14 (Easterling 3, Carrico 2, Grizzle 2, Freeman 2, Milleson 2). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.
GALLIPOLIS (5-8, 2-6): Cooper Davis 0 0 1-2 1, Logan Blouir 2 3 0-0 13, Isaac Clary 5 0 2-4 12, Justin Wilcoxen 0 0 0-0 0, Damon Cremeans 2 0 0-0 4, Devin Lee 0 0 0-0 0, Colton Caldwell 0 0 0-0 0, Reece Thomas 1 2 0-0 8, Ben Cox 1 0 1-2 3, Zane Loveday 2 0 1-1 5. Totals: 18-43 5-9 46. 3-pt goals: 5-14. Rebounds: 6-O, 16-D = 22 (Clary 6). Team/dedball rebounds: 4. Assists: 6 (Lee 2). Steals: 6 (Cox 2). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.