JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The Ironton Fighting Tigers saved their best for last.

In their final Ohio Valley Conference game of the season, Ironton gave its best defensive performance in a 59-47 win over the South Point Pointers.

“That was our best defensive effort all the way through. We never let up. We never let them make a run,” said Ironton coach Chris Barnes.

“I’m proud of them. Shaun Terry’s defense was fantastic. That’s two games in a row his defense has been fantastic and he’s stayed out of foul trouble.”

Ironton is now 14-7 overall and finishes 10-4 in the OVC, tied with Portsmouth for second place behind Chesapeake. South Point slipped to 12-9 and 9-5 in the league.

Braden Schreck’s layup and Ashton Layne’s free throw gave Ironton a 3-0 lead to start the game but Carter Smith drilled a 3-pointer and South Point tied the game.

But a 3-point play by Bailey Thacker at the 4:36 mark gave Ironton the lead for good at 6-3.

Layups by Schreck and Shaun Terry made it 12-5 with 2 minutes left in the quarter. Caleb Lovely hit a short jumper for the Pointers only to have Thacker get a putback and give Ironton a 14-7 lead.

Terry banked home a 3-pointer to start the second quarter and Schreck ended the half with a trifecta and Ironton led 26-13.

“Our offense wasn’t as good today as it has been. We missed a lot of layups. That’s 12 or more points we left off the board. Honestly, we should have been up 20-plus at halftime,” said coach Barnes.

“But I’m more proud of our defense. To beat them back-to-back over three or four days, that’s hard to do.”

Thacker and Layne had layups to start the second half and it was 30-13.

Lovely made a layup and Xathan Haney hit a turnaround jumper and it was 30-17.

But Ironton went on an 8-0 run to lead 38-20 and Schreck’s two free throws with just under two minutes left in the quarter put the lead at 40-24.

Judah Barnes hit a 3-pointer, Terry made a layup and Layne had a putback as Ironton opened up a 54-34 lead with 5:12 left in the game.

“When Shaun’s on the floor, you can see a difference. Braden always plays well and plays good defense. Ashton had another nice game. He finished around the rim,” said coach Barnes.

Schreck led Ironton with 17 points with Layne netting 14 and Terry 12.

Lovely had a game-high 19 points for the Pointers while Smith scored 11.

South Point    7 6 11 23 = 47

Ironton     14 12 14 19 = 59

SOUTH POINT (12-9, 9-5): Caleb Lovely 8 1 0-1 19, Carter Smith 1 1 6-6 11, Elijah Wilburn 1 0 0-2 2, Davon Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, Xanthan Haney 2 1 1-1 8, Josh Childers 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Layne 2 0 0-0 0, Brayden Hanshaw 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Hunt 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18-61 7-7 47. 3-pt goals: 4-20. Rebounds: o-9 D-18 = 27. Assists: 10. Steals: 9. Blocks: 3. Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (14-7, 10-4): Shaun Terry 3 2 0-0 12, Bailey Thacker 4 0 1-1 9, Bryce Markins 0 0 0-0 0, Judah Barnes 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Roach 1 0 0-0 2, Markel Cotton 1 0 0-0 2, Braden Schreck 4 1 6-6 17, Kayden Edwards 0 0 0-0 0, Ashton Layne 5 0 4-6 14, Noah Patterson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-47 11-13 59. 3-pt goals: 4-13. Rebounds: O-4 D-25 = 29 (Thacker 9, Layne 7, Schreck 4). Assists: 9 (Terry 5, Barnes 2). Steals: 8 (Schreck 2, Barnes 2). Blocks: 4 (Thacker 2, Barnes 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.