By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

The Ironton Fighting Tigers need to put on a little Turtle Wax. It could give them the hard shell they need.

Facing some adverse conditions, Ironton didn’t respond in a 66-41 loss to the Portsmouth Trojans Tuesday.

Leading scorer Zac Carter was weak after suffering from the flu the past three days. Other players were also effected by illnesses and Ironton coach Mark LaFon said it took its toll in a negative fashion.

“Every time you play a game you can’t expect to have perfect conditions,” said LaFon.

“This is a young team, but we’ve played 10 games and we need to get tougher mentally. We can play a physical game, but we let this effect us across the board. We didn’t play well fundamentally. We took bad shots and we let them have way too many offensive rebounds.”

Portsmouth (9-4) had 14 offensive rebounds and shot 46 percent from the floor. Ironton (6-4) was just 17 of 56 from the floor for 30 percent.

Trey Fletcher had 13 points and Trevor White 10 to lead Ironton. Carter managed to score only three as he played on a limited basis.

Wayne Evans scored 24 points to lead the Trojans. Andrew Bendolph had 18 while Dion McKinley and Tre Underwood had 12 rebounds each.

The game was tied twice early and then Underwood made a foul shot to put Portsmouth up for good at 5-4. The Trojans went on a 13-2 run to lead 17-6 with 1:35 left in the quarter.

A layup by Josh Glover got Ironton with 17-11 but the Fighting Tigers would get no closer.

The Trojans went up 35-20 on a steal and layup by Bendolph. Travis Elliott made a layup with 2:05 on the clock that got Ironton within 35-22 at the half.

But Portsmouth was 7 of 15 from the field in the third quarter and Ironton made only 5 of 16 as the spread reached 52-35.

Portsmouth 17 18 17 14 = 66

Ironton 9 13 13 6 = 41

PORTSMOUTH (9-4): Zaide Whitely 0 1 0-0 3, Andrew Bendolph 7 1 1-2 18, Wayne Evans 9 1 3-4 24, Dion McKinley 1 1 1-2 6, Tre Underwood 2 0 3-4 7, L.J. Adams 0 1 0-0 3, Mason Jordan 0 0 0-0 0, Len Collins 0 0 0-0 0, Robert Grubbs 0 0 0-2 0, Trevor Violette 0 0 1-2 1, Jayllen Carter 0 0 0-0 0, Seth Bratchett 1 0 2-2 4. Totals: 25-54 11-18 66. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 14 offensive, 27 defensive = 41 (Underwood 12, McKinley 12). Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 5 (Bendolph 2). Steals: 7 (Bendolph 3,McKinley 2). Turnovers: 9.

IRONTON (6-4): Travis Elliott 3 0 1-4 7, Zac Carter 1 0 1-2 3, Josh Murphy 0 0 0-0 0, Trey Fletcher 4 1 2-3 13, Nick Culbertson 1 0 0-0 2, Trevor White 4 0 2-2 10, Malcolm Morton 0 0 0-3 0, Tanner Dutey 0 0 0-0 0, Tanner Schweickart 0 0 0-0 0, Geoff Delawder 0 0 0-0 0, Josh Glover 3 0 0-0 6, Nolan Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-56 6-14 41. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 1-9. Rebounds: 14 offensive, 18 defensive = 32 (Elliott 8, Fletcher 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 7 (Morton 3, Elliott 2). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 10.