By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — One team shot the ball well. One team shot poorly. One team played with energy and one team didn’t. One team played really hard and one team not so much.

The Fairland Dragons beat the Ironton Fighting Tigers 59-39 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday. Now can you match the team to the afore mention attributes?

“We just didn’t play with much energy,” said Ironton coach Chris Barnes. “It was a lot like the first three and a half quarters against Portsmouth (on Tuesday). We just didn’t come out with much fire.

“I told our guys (Fairland) can’t afford to lose another (league) game. They’re going to die trying. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t deserve it. Fairland played harder than we did tonight and they played better than us.”

Fairland was 26-of-50 from the field for 52 percent while Ironton was 16-of-53 for 30 percent.

The Dragons led just 10-8 after the first quarter. J.D. Thacker and Steeler Leep had layups to begin the second quarter to make it 14-8 but Shaun Terry hit a 3-pointer to get Ironton within 14-11 at the 7:09 mark.

Fairland then scored 10 unanswered point to go up 24-11 before Braden Schreck made a foul shot at the 4:33 mark to end the run.

But baskets by Will Davis and Brody Buchanan made it 28-12 at the half.

The Dragons outscored Ironton 18-4 in the second quarter.

“The second quarter was a killer,” said Barnes.

The Fighting Tigers (6-4, 4-2)  came out of the locker room with some fire and outscored Fairland 19-11.

Schreck made a layup off a pass from Landen Wilson that got Ironton within 35-29 with 2:01 on the clock. Thacker had a putback, Ironton’s Ethan White made a layup and Leep had a layup to end the quarter with Fairland up 39-31.

“We were taking a lot of bad shots. That’s whey we were 5-for-24 (from the field). We came out the second half with some energy and cut it to six. But you’re asking a lot to come back 16 down against Fairland,” said Barnes.

The Dragons outscored Ironton 20-8 in the first quarter as the Fighting Tigers went 3-of-11 from the field and had 8 of their 12 turnovers.

Fairland had 4 players in double figures led by Leep with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Chase Allen scored 13, Buchanan 12 and Thacker 10.

Terry had 16 points for Ironton. White had 9 points and Schreck 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Ironton   8 4 19 8 = 39

Fairland 10 18 11 20 = 59

IRONTON (6-3, 4-1): Lincoln Barnes 1 0 0-0 2, Shaun Terry 4 2 2-2 16, Landon Wilson 1 0 0-0 2, Braden Schreck  0 2-5 8, Ethan White 4 0 1-1 9, Tayden Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Amari Felder 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Roach 1 0 0-0 2, Markel Cotton 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-53 5-8 39. 3-pt goals: 2-13. Rebounds: 12-O 22-D = 34 (Schreck 8, White 5, Barnes 5) Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 6 (Wilson 3). Steals: 9 (Wilson 3, Terry 2, White 2, Barnes 2). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (9-4, 5-2): Will Davis 2 0 0-0 4, Chase Allen 4 1 2-2 13, J.D. Thacker 5 0 0-1 10, Steeler Leep 8 0 0-0 16, Brody Buchanan 1 3 1-2 12, Zion Martin 0 0 0-0 0, Keegan Smith 2 0 0-2 4. Totals: 26-50 3-7 59. 3-pt goals: 4-15. Rebounds: 8-O, 25-D = 33 (Leep 10, Thacker 7, Davis 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 11 (Davis 3, Allen 2, Buchanan 2). Steals: 7 (Buchanan 3, Leep 2). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 11. Fouled: None.