Portsmouth’s 6-foot-5 tandem of Greg McKinley and Rodney Cameron combined for 31 points – all layups – and 15 rebounds as the Trojans held on to beat the Ironton Fighting Tigers 60-49 Friday at the Ironton Sports Center.

Sunday, February 06, 2000

Portsmouth’s 6-foot-5 tandem of Greg McKinley and Rodney Cameron combined for 31 points – all layups – and 15 rebounds as the Trojans held on to beat the Ironton Fighting Tigers 60-49 Friday at the Ironton Sports Center.

McKinley did the most offensive damage with 22 points while Cameron had nine rebounds. Jonah Booker added 10 points including a pair of 3-pointers.

"Give Portsmouth credit. They did what they had to do. They went inside and we couldn’t stop them," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "We knew they would try to go inside on offense, and we knew they would play a zone against us.

"But we were ready for their zone. We had a new offense in and we got some good looks at the basket, we just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We aren’t getting anything inside and we can’t rely on our outside shooting all the time."

Jason Harmon had 19 points, six rebounds, and three assists to lead the Fighting Tigers, now 4-10. Isaac Hannon was next with 13 points while Drew Mains had four assists and two steals.

Portsmouth was 26 of 40 from the field for a sizzling 65 percent. Every basket was a layup for follow up shot with the exception of Booker’s trifectas.

Inconsistent shooting plagued Ironton again. The Fighting Tigers managed to connect on just 18 of 51 floor shots for 35.3 percent. Ironton actually shot better from 3-point range than two-point, hitting 8 of 20 from behind the arc for 40 percent.

Despite the loss and shooting struggles, Ironton battled the Trojans until the final buzzer.

"I can’t fault our effort. The kids played hard," said Barnes. "We got down 16 and cut it to five. They wouldn’t quit. If we could have had a few more shots drop, you never know what might have happened."

McKinley and Cameron had six points each the first quarter as Portsmouth took a 14-10 lead.

Mains hit a 3-pointer to start the second quarter and get Ironton within a point, then buried another long range shot at the 4:42 mark to tie the game at 18-18.

Ironton failed to score the rest of the half and trailed 28-18 at the break as Booker hit two straight 3-pointers and Greg Estep and McKinley added layups in the 10-0 run.

A conventional 3-point play by McKinley at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter pushed the lead to 35-20.

A 3-pointer by Hannon and two layups by Harmon cut the deficit to 35-27, but a 9-3 run by Portsmouth to finish the quarter made it 44-30.

Booker’s layup at the 6:32 mark gave Portsmouth its biggest lead of the game at 48-32, but then Ironton began its comeback.

Harmon hit a 3-pointer to ignite the offense, Hannon nailed a pair of 3’s, and Josh Harmon scored three points as Ironton got within 52-46.

Cameron sank one of two from the line, and then Harmon had a steal and fed Hannon for a layup to cut the spread to 53-48 with 2:05 to go.

But critical turnovers by Ironton and layups by D. J. Carter and McKinley put an end to the run and clinched the win for Portsmouth.

Ironton will host South Point Tuesday.