ATHENS – Didn’t we just do this? It was less than a week ago that the Ironton Fighting Tigers beat the Rock Hill Redmen in a regular season game.

Tuesday, February 20, 2001

ATHENS – Didn’t we just do this? It was less than a week ago that the Ironton Fighting Tigers beat the Rock Hill Redmen in a regular season game.

The two teams met against Monday night in tournament play as Ironton posted a 72-44 win in the opening round of the Division III sectional.

"We played a little better this time and we got the job done," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "The last time we won by 13 and they didn’t have (David) Schug. This time we win by 28 and they have Schug, so we did a better job."

Chris Haney led Ironton with 21 points and 19 rebounds. Josh Sands, Tommy Lutz, and Derique Bacon added 10 points each with Lutz also pulling down six rebounds.

Andy Brown and Bacon had five rebounds each.

Rock Hill (5-16) was led by Schug with 18 points – 14 the first half – and seven rebounds. Robbie McClellan got 16 points and Rickie McDonie had eight rebounds.

Ironton (12-9) now plays Belpre at 8:45 p.m. Friday in the sectional title game. Belpre, the No. 3 seed and ranked 14th in the final Associated Press poll, downed Hemlock Miller 77-69 in the first game.

"We’ll have to play a great game to upset Belpre," said Barnes. "We have to move the ball better and play better, but it would be great for the seniors."

Lutz scored four points as Ironton went up 12-7 early. Sands had a steal and layup and then Haney stole the ball and fed Lutz for a layup to make it 18-9 at the end of the first quarter.

A follow-up by Haney put the lead at 26-14, but a short jumper by McClellan and two foul shots by Schug got the Redmen within 31-23 with 1:30 left in the half.

Bacon had a layup with less than a minute to go, but Schug sank two technical free throws and it was 35-25.

However, on the inbounds play,Ironton’s Andrew Harvey stole the ball and raced his way for a layup just before the buzzer sounded and it was 37-25 at the break.

McDonie had two foul shots to begin the second half and cut the deficit to 10, but that was as close as the Redmen would get the rest of the way. Haney had eight points and Sands got a layup after a steal and feed by Haney that put Ironton up 53-35 at the end of the quarter.

"I give Rock Hill a lot of credit. They play hard and coach (Marty) Mills does a great job," said Barnes.