By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

When you’re hot you’re hot, and when you’re not, you’re not. And when you’re clutch, you take care of all that hot shooting.

The Huntington Expression Prep started the game 1-of-14 from the field and fell behind by 14 points. But the Lions were red-hot in their fourth quarter comeback before some clutch foul shooting by Ironton enabled the Fighting Tigers to hold on for a 72-67 win in the regular season finale on Friday.

“We were up big a couple of times. They just kept cutting it. They can score. They average more than 80 points a game,” said Ironton coach Chris Barnes. “We basically won that game four times. We can’t do that in the tournament.”

“It helps that they were awful in the first quarter, but then they didn’t hardly miss in the fourth quarter. They must have shot 90 percent in the fourth quarter. They hit a 3-pointer that banked off the top of the backboard.”

Noah Patterson put Ironton up 2-0 to start the game and then Jackson Childers tied the game on a cutback. From there, Ironton went on a 15-1 run to end the quarter and led 17-3.

A 3-pointer by Bryce Markins and 2 free throws by Tyler Roach gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game at 25-3. Christian Brown scored 5 straight points as Prep went on a 10-3 run and trailed 28-13.

Braden Schreck scored to put Ironton up 34-18 only to have Childers hit a 3-pointer and it was 34-21 at the half.

Shaun Terry sank 2 free throws that gave Ironton a 50-30 lead only to have the Lions close the gap to 52-42 on a 3-pointer by TaSean Seldon. Schreck sank 2 free throws with 9 seconds left in the quarter and Ironton was up 54-42 going into the final quarter.

Prep got within 57-49 on 4 points by Jase Coats with 5:29 left. Schreck took over and got 3 straight baskets and it was 63-49.

But the Lions kept coming and matters got worse for Ironton when Terry fouled out with 6:06 to play.

“Once again, Shaun’s not on the court in the fourth quarter and we had two or three other guys not on the court. That greatly affects our team,” said coach Barnes. “I told (Terry) during tournament time you’ve got to stay on the floor. When he’s on the floor, we go up 20. When he goes out, we’re up 10. You can see the difference when he’s out.”

Coats banked in a 3-pointer off the top of the backboard that made it 67-62.

But Ashton Layne sank 2 free throws and then Brown hit a triple and it was 69-65.

Judah Barnes went 1-of-2 from the line and it was 70-65,

Mitchell Cox hit a 17-footer and it was 70-67, but Judah Barnes was fouled with 8.3 seconds left and hit both free throws to seal the win.

“We had some guys step up and hit some clutch shots. Braden played well and hit some big shots. Judah and Ashton both played well and made some clutch free throws,” said coach Barnes.

Ironton was 10-of-14 from the line in the fourth quarter when Prep was forced to foul in an effort to climb back into the game.

Schreck — who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter — led Ironton with 20 points and went 4-of-4 at the line in the fourth quarter. He also had 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

Layne got 14 points and 2 blocked shots. Terry finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Patterson pulled down 7 rebounds.

Brown scored 16 to lead Prep while Childers and Coats had 15 points each. Morris added 10 points before fouling out with 8 seconds to play.

“We’re taking (Saturday) off. They’re all in there hacking and coughing. We don’t need to be around each other right now,” said coach Barnes.

“We got some guys who gave up some good minutes. I like what I saw out of Noah Patterson. He’s earned himself some minutes on Monday. This was a good game to go into the tournament.”

Ironton will host Rock Hill at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Division 3 sectional tournament.

Expression    3 18 21 25 = 67

Ironton     17 17 20 18 = 72

HUNTINGTON EXPRESSION (11-11): Mitchell Cox 1 0 1-2 3, Jase Coats 3 1 6-9 15, Caden Dunkle 0 1 0-0 3, Rasheed Morrison 3 1 1-2 10, Jackson Childers 5 1 2-3 15, TaSean Seldon 1 1 0-0 5, Christian Brown 4 2 2-2 16. Totals: 24-62 12-18 67. 3-pt goals: 7-22. Rebounds: O-13 D-16 = 29. Assists: 10. Steals: 3. Blocks: 2. Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Morrison (4th :08)

IRONTON (15-7): Shaun Terry 3 0 6-7 12, Bailey Thacker 2 1 0-0 7, Bryce Markins 0 1 0-0 3, Judah Barnes 0 1 3-4 6, Tyler Roach 0 1 3-6 6, Markel Cotton 0 0 0-0 0, Maddix Markel 0 0 0-0 0, Braden Schreck 7 0 6-6 20, Ashton Layne 4 0 6-8 14, Noah Patterson 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 22-47 24-31 72. 3-pt goals: 4-17. Rebounds: O-8 D-24 = 32 (Schreck 9, Patterson 7, Terry 6). Assists: 10 (Schreck 6). Steals: 2 (Schreck, Terry). Blocks: 5 (Layne 2, Thacker 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Terry (4th 6:06), Patterson (4th 1:55).