By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The Ironton Fighting Tigers were facing a tall task. As it turned out, they were more than up for it.

Facing a much taller Westley Christian Academy, Ironton did the things needed to beat the Circuit Riders 67-48 in the final game of the annual Ironton Classic.

Ironton coach Chris Barnes looked at the Circuit Riders in warmups and checked out the size that featured 6-9 Tegra Makabu, 6-9 Ksenda Moise and 6-5 Yego Dmitriyev along with a few others who were anywhere from 6-foot to 6-3.

“I’m watching them warm up and it seemed like everyone they had was 6-7 or 6-9. I told the guys if we play as hard as we’ve been playing, and keep those guys off the offensive glass because they were massive and take care of things that have to do with us, we should be fine,” said Barnes.

Standing tall for Ironton was game MVP Braden Schreck who scored 18 points and had 5 rebounds as well as Bryce “Instant Offense” Markins who came off the bench and went 5-of-5 from behind the arc as he scored 15 points.

Bailey Thacker had 9 points and hauled down 15 rebounds and Ashton Layne grabbed 6 rebounds. Shaun Terry scored just 6 points but had 8 assists and 3 steals.

“I didn’t ask them to do things they can’t do. At the end of the game, we only gave up 48 points. (Thursday night) against Huntington High we held them under 60 until the end when we had to foul. So, overall I’m really pleased,” said Barnes.

Wesley Christian’s MVP Kacper Wojiciga scored 15 points and Makabu had 10.

The Circuit Riders were up 7-6 went Ironton went on a 12-0 run to end the quarter to lead 18-7.

Markins hit a pair of 3-pointers, Schreck hit a 10-foot and Markin had 2 more trifectas as the lead grew to 34-11.

A steal and layup by Schreck and a 3-pointer by Markel Cotton put Ironton up 41-18.

Moise had a slam dunk to end the half but Ironton led 43-23.

A layup by Terry gave Ironton a 49-28 lead and Markins final 3-pointer opened up Ironton’s biggest lead of the game at 54-30 and the game was never in doubt.

Wesley Christian 7 16 14 11 = 48

Ironton     18 25 11 13 = 67

WESLEY CHRISTIAN (6-10): Ephra Munka 3 0 2-2 8, Kacper Wojiciga 1 4 1-3 15, Diogo Bulhoes 0 0 0-0 0, Ryoya Tomioka 0 0 0-0 0, Kasenda Moise 4 0 1-2 9, Yegor Dmitriyev 0 0 0-0 0, S Afam 0 0 0-0 0, Sabu Tavkkhelidze 2 0 0-0 4, Tegra Makabu 5 0 0-2 10, Takayuki Koizumi 0 0 0-0 0, Ouki Kosugi 0 0 0-0 0, Patrick Pettengill 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 20-48 4-9 48. 3-pt goals: 4-12. Rebounds: O-9, D-16 = 25. Assists: 5. Steals: 5. Turnovers: 15. Blocks: 3. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (5-1): Shaun Terry 3 0 0-0 6, Braylon Sturgill 1 0 0-0 2, Bailey Thacker 4 0 1-2 9, Bryce Markins 0 5 0-0 15, Judah Barnes 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Roach 3 0 0-0 6, Markel Cotton 1 2 0-0 8, Braden Schreck 9 0 0-0 18, Kayden Edwards 0 0 0-0 0, Ashton Layne 0 0 2-2 2, Noah Patterson 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 28-63 4-6 67. 3-pt goals: 7-22. Rebounds: O-15, D-17 = 32 (Thacker 10, Layne 6, Schreck 5). Assists: 14 (Terry 8). Steals: 6 (Terry 3). Turnovers: 12. Blocks: 3 (Thacker 2, Layne 1). “Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.