Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — The Fairland Dragons (5-1, 3-0) shot past the Portsmouth Trojans(1-1, 1-1) in an Ohio Valley Conference game at the Carl York Center, 70-42.
The Dragons knocked down 7 three-pointers in the first period — Clayton Thomas made three of them and Aiden Porter hit two in the quarter.
The duo helped spring Fairland to an early 30-10 first quarter lead.
Portsmouth struggled to keep up in scoring, but did not play bad basketball as they only committed 10 turnovers and were just narrowly out-rebounded 29-22. It was only the Trojans second game of the season, coming off a 58-40 win over South Point.
Their slow start cost them as they outscored Fairland in the next two quarters 28-25, but the first quarter deficit was too much.
Dariyonne Bryant scored 7 points to get the Trojans going in the first half, but Miles Shipp took the reins in the third quarter.
The 6-foot-2 senior scored 9 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.
Fairland played at a steady pace in the second quarter as they did all game, only committing five turnovers as a team.
“I thought that was the best we’ve played all year as far as moving the ball, being patient, taking the best shot we can get and not force anything,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.
Nearly half of the Dragon’s field goals came assisted with 17 team assists on 28 field goals. They worked the ball well against the Trojans’ zone defense to find open shooters like Thomas who netted five 3-pointers on the night for all 15 of his points.
“We are doing a better job of picking our spots offensively, pulling it out and running the offense when we don’t have it in transition. We haven’t been doing that. It’s something we’ve really been focused on. If it’s not there, don’t force it,” added Speed on their offensive attack.
The Dragon’s had five players in the double digit scoring category. Porter led all scorers with 17 points, Jacob Polcyn scored 14 points, Nate Thacker totaled 12 points and Gavin Hunt netted 10 points along with Thomas’ total.
The Trojans host Chesapeake at 7:30 Saturday. Fairland travels to Columbus to play against Buckeye Valley.
Portsmouth 10 18 10 4 = 42
Fairland 30 13 12 15 = 70
PORTSMOUTH (1-1, 1-1): Amare Johnson 0-2 3-4 1-1 7, Drew Roe 0-1 2-5, 0-0 4, Dariyonne Bryant 1-3 2-4 0-0 7, Chris Duff 1-4 0-1 0-0 3, Daewin Spence 0-0 0-1 1-2 3, Donovan Carr -0 2-3 1-2 5, Michael Duncan 1-2 0-0 1-4 4, Miles Shipp 0-0 4-10 1-2 9.
FAIRLAND (5-1, 4-): Jacob Polcyn 1-2 5-8 1-1 14, Aiden Porter 2-5 5-9 1-1 17, Gavin Hunt 1-2 3-5 1-2 10, Clayton Thomas 5-11 0-1 0-0 15, Jordan Williams 0-0 1-2 0-0 2, Nate Thacker 2-4 3-3 12.