It's the little things that mean a lot.

Making little mistakes here and there add up, and they came together Tuesday to leave the Ironton Fighting Tigers on the short end of a 56-55 decision to the Ashland (Ky.) Tomcats.

Ironton (11-2) squandered a 10-point first half lead, then just missed getting the win as Josh Sands' long 3-point attempt at the buzzer hit the back of the rim and pop out of the cylinder.

"They were able to make a little run when we made some mistakes. That's what a good team will do," Ironton coach Roger Zornes said. "We made some mistakes and were relaxed a little inside on defense and they took advantage of it.

"I told our kids coming in that Ashland isn't going to make mistakes. They're going to be patient."

Ashland (8-6) patiently chipped away at the Ironton lead until finally taking the lead late in the third quarter.

Ironton was up 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Derique Bacon followed up a missed shot to put Ironton ahead 21-11 with 4:45 left in the half.

Ashland countered as Jeremy Howell made two foul shots

and cut the deficit to 23-20 with 2:03 left in the half. A running jumper by Josh Sands put Ironton ahead 28-21, but Jeremy Howell nailed a 3-pointer and it was 28-24 at the half.

"They hit a big '3'

right before the half. They broke us down and got open for the shot," coach Zornes said.

The Tomcats took the lead on a baseline jumper by Howell with 2:30 left in the half.

A foul shot by Drew McDavid and a 5-footer by Waginger made it 37-35.

Joe Zornes hit a 3-pointer to begin the fourth quarter and give Ironton the lead. The Tomcats went on a 9-0 run to lead 48-42 with 4:48 to play.

The Fighting Tigers continued to trail until Sands nailed a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to tie the game at 55-55. But Ashland's Matt Johnson was fouled inside and made the first of two free throws with five seconds left to make it 56-55.

Bacon rebounded the missed second shot and Sands raced down the court where his 25-footer bounced off the back of the rim as the horn sounded.

"One thing about our kids, we're gritty," coach Zornes said. "Josh Sands did a nice job and Brigham just battles. I get on him, but Brigham did a great job. All our kids responded. We just did get it at the end."

Bacon had 14 points and five rebounds to lead four Ironton players in double figure scoring. Waginger had 13 points

while Sands and Joe Zornes finished with 10 each.

Howell scored 19, Johnson 11, and Chad Cook 10 to lead Ashland.

In the reserve game, Ashland won 34-26 as Brent Miller scored 11. Ironton (12-1) was led by Marcus Williams with 10 points.

Ashland8161319--56

Ironton1612918--55

ASHLAND (8-6):

Adam Howard 3-5 (1-2) 2-4 9, Jeremy Howell 7-12 (3-5) 2-2 19, Zach Davis 3-7 (0-1) 0-0 6, Chad Cook 2-6 (0-0) 6-8 10, Matt Johnson 4-5 (0-0) 3-6 11, Chase Schweitzer 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brett Miller 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Drew McDavid 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1. Totals: 19-36

(4-8)

14-22

56. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-15=22 (Johnson 7, Davis 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists 7 (Howard 2). Steals: 5 (Howard 2). Turnovers: 16.

IRONTON (11-2):

Josh Sands 4-10 (2-5) 0-2 10, Brigham Waginger 6-10 (0-1) 1-2 13, Joe Zornes 3-8 (2-3) 2-2 10, Derique Bacon 5-6 (0-0) 4-6 14, Patrick Kouns 1-2 (0-0) 1-2 3, Nick Collins 0-1 (0-0) 2-2 2, Dennis Gagai 1-6 (1-4) 0-0 3, Kevin Williams 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 20-43

(5-13)

10-16

55. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-12=19 (Bacon 5, Gagai 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 9 (Zornes 4, Waginger 3). Steals: 8 (Sands 2, Waginger 2, Zornes 2). Turnovers: 13.