PROCTORVILLE - Looking back at the first meeting, one wouldn't think Ironton Fighting Tigers coach Roger Zornes had anything to worry about.

But he did.

After winning the first meeting 89-31 and losing a tough 54-53 decision Tuesday at Westerville, Zornes was worried about a letdown.

But he didn't need to.

Ironton (5-2) used a 32-0 run that started at the end of the first quarter and went on to a 74-24 win Friday over the Fairland Dragons.

"I wasn't sure how we'd play. It would have been real easy for us to have a letdown," Zornes said. "But we played hard and we played well as a team. I was worried we'd take a step backwards, but we showed some improvement."

Ironton's defense produced 23 steals and forced Fairland to commit 31 turnovers. Oddly, the Fighting Tigers had nine of their steals in the third quarter when they dropped back into a 2-3 zone.

Josh Sands, Brigham Waginger and Dennis Gagai each scored 14 points for Ironton. Marcus Williams came off the bench to add nine.

Gagai had seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. Waginger had four steals and Sands and Williams three each. Joe Zornes grabbed five rebounds.

Kendall Staggs had 11 points for the Dragons (3-3). Jeremy Pritt and Matt Burd each had four rebounds.

Pritt made a layup with 24 seconds left in the first quarter that got Fairland within 15-9. Patrick Kouns then scored off an inbounds pass to put Ironton up 17-9 and ignite the 32 straight points.

The Dragons failed to score in the second quarter as they took just four shots and missed the front end of two one-and-ones.

After leading 41-9 at the half, Sands had a layup off a nice pass from Zornes to start the second half

Waginger hit a 10-footer and then stole the ball and went for a layup that pushed the lead to 47-9.

Staggs broke the draught by hitting a 3-pointer with 6:29 left in the third quarter and it was 47-12. Sands answered with a 3-pointer and Ironton outscored Fairland 13-3 the rest of the quarter to take a 63-15 lead into the final quarter.

In the reserve game, Ironton won 53-31 as Brandon Walker scored 15 points and Greg Linn had nine. Rich Staggs and J.B. Smith scored six each for Fairland.

Ironton17242211-74

Fairland9069-24

IRONTON (5-2):

Josh Sands 6-12 (1-4) 1-1 14, Brigham Waginger 7-8 (0-0) 0-0 14, Dennis Gagai 6-13 (2-6) 0-0 14, Joe Zornes 2-9 (0-1) 0-1 4, Derique Bacon 2-3 (0-0) 0-0 4, Nick Collins 3-8 (0-2) 0-0 6, Marcus Williams 2-3 (0-0) 5-6 9, Patrick Kouns 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Marcus Royal 1-4 (0-0) 0-0 2, Brandon Walker 0-1 (0-0) 0-2 0, Greg Linn 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Brent McBride 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Tyler McDaniels 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1, Brian Wirzfeld 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Shawn Miller 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2. Totals: 32-67

(3-14)

7-12

74. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 16-22=38 (Gagai 7, Bacon 5, Zornes 5, Williams 4). Team/dead ball rebounds: 6. Assists: 14 (Zornes 4, Gagai 3). Steals: 23 (Waginger 4, Gagai 3, Sands 3, Williams 3). Turnovers: 12. FG% – 47.8. FT% – 58.3. 3pt% – 21.4.

FAIRLAND (3-3): Nolan Love 0-1 (0-01 0-0 0, Matt Clark 1-4 (1-2) 0-0 3, Jeremy Pritt 2-4 (0-0) 3-5 7, Daniel Spears 0-3 (0-2) 0-0 0, Matt Burd 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Kendall Staggs 4-15 (2-8) 1-3 11, Kyle Wise 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, J.B. Smith 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Wes Ripley 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1. Totals: 8-30

(3-14)

5-10

24. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 4-14=18 (Pritt 4, Burd 4, Love 3). Team/dead ball rebounds: 2. Assists: 3 (Love 2). Steals: 3 (Staggs 2). Turnovers: 31. FG% – 26.7. FT% – 50. 3pt% – 21.4.