Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

It’s an old cliché. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
The Ironton Fighting Tigers lived up to their “fighting” nickname on Tuesday as they battled the taller Gallipolis Blue Devils in an Ohio Valley Conference game.
Ironton (5-3, 1-1) was able to win the rebounding battle 48-30 as Ryan Bryant had 16 rebounds, Jourdyn Barrow 7 and Raphael Glover 6.
“Any time those two (Bryant and Glover) — anytime anyone can combine for 20 rebounds — you’re happy. Our biggest kid is the third biggest kid on the floor. That’s a tribute to them battling. It’s not like they’re big, freak athletes. So hats off to them,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.
Gallipolis (6-1, 2-1) was led inside by 6-foot-11 Zach Loveday and 6-5 Justin Peck who combined for 13 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
LaFon said it all came down to effort.
“I know what I’m asking them to do and those things weren’t always coming through. I will say we battled all the way through until the end. That’s all I can ask of them,” said LaFon.
“It’s my job to make adjustments as the game goes on. When the game wasn’t going quite our way, they continued to stay in it and battle through it.”

Bryant scored a game-high 22 points. Ethan Wilson had 19 points along with 3 assists.
Justin McClelland and Loveday scored 11 points each for Gallipolis.
After Ironton led 18-17 at the half, the game was tied three times at 22-22 and 24-24 in the third quarter and 38-38 with 6:10 to play.
The lead changed hands 15 times during the game with the final time coming when Ironton went up 40-38 on two foul shots by Wilson with 5:30 left. Kyle Adkins then hit a 3-pointer and Ironton led 43-38 with three minutes to go.
Ironton was 14-of-21 from the foul line in the fourth quarter — all coming beginning at the 5:30 mark.
The Fighting Tigers were 21-of-30 for the game. Wilson was 4-of-5 in the fourth quarter and 11-of-12 for the game at the line. Bryant was 9-of-14 from the line and 9-of-12 in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been working on (foul shooting) in practice. (Coach LaFon) changed my form a little bit and it worked a lot better,” said Wilson.
“Our main focus was on their big guys. It just helped that the guards came in and crashed (the boards). We didn’t come out to play against Huntington. It was way different than what we did today. We came out and played today.”
Gallipolis was 5-of-6 from the line for the game. The Blue Devils were 4-of-17 from behind the 3-point line and shot just 3-of-16 from the field in the fourth quarter.  They were 17-of-57 for the game for 29.8 percent.
On Friday, Ironton hosts Rock Hill and Gallipolis visits Coal Grove.
Gallipolis    6    12    18    8    =    43
Ironton       7    10    13    25    =    56
GALLIPOLIS (6-1, 2-1): Justin McClelland 2 1 4-4 11, Kaden Thomas 1 2 0-0 8, Cory Call 1 1 0-0 5, Justin Peck 3 0 0-0 6, Zach Loveday 5 0 1-1 11, Evan Wiseman 1 0 0-1 2, Gage Harrison 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-57 5-6 43. 3-point goals: 4-17. Rebounds: 9-O, 21-D = 30 (Loveday 7, Peck 6, Wiseman 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 8 (Wiseman 3, McClelland 3). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: McClelland (4th 0:49), Peck (4th 0:23).
IRONTON (5-3, 1-1): Ethan Wilson 4 0 11-12 19, Charlie Large 1 0 0-0 2, Kyle Adkins 1 1 1-2 6, Raphael Glover 3 0 1-2 7, Ryan Bryant 5 1 9-14 22, Joel Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Jourdyn Barrow 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Humphreys 0 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Dodgion 0 0 0-0 0, Trevor Hacker 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-50 21-30 56. 3-point goals: 2-10. Rebounds: 18-O, 30-D = 48 (Bryant 16, Barrow 7, Glover 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 7 (Wilson 4). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.