By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

When Elvis sang “Suspicious Minds” he talked about being caught in a trap.

If Elvis wants to know about being caught in a trap, just ask the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Ironton found itself in a tough situation on Friday against a dangerous Coal Grove Hornets team with talent rival Ashland waiting to play on Saturday.

But the Fighting Tigers finally put things together over the final six minutes thanks to Braden Scheck who scored half his career-high 34 points in the second half in an 83-64 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Hornets.

“That was a trap game, but if you win a trap game by 19 you have to be happy,” said Ironton coach Chris Barnes. “I told them you can’t take anyone lightly. They beat Portsmouth twice so they can beat anybody in the league if you take them lightly.”

Ironton (12-5, 9-3) led 37-23 late in the first half when Coal Grove rallied to get within 41-37 after Elijah Dillon hit a 3-pointer and a 14-footer. Schreck hit a short jumper just before the buzzer and it was 43-37 at the half.

“We were up 14 and I said in a timeout let’s go try and get up by 20 at the half. We didn’t guard a soul and they were the ones who went on a run,” said Barnes.

“We thought it was going to be easy and we weren’t focused. We had a talk at halftime and got a few things straightened out. (Owen) Johnson for them is tough. But I knew our guys would respond.”

Coal Grove came out the second half and Dillon made a layup and Johnson hit a 3-pointer to get within 43-42. Landon Davis then may a layup that gave Coal Grove its only lead of the game at 44-43.

Schreck assisted himself with three straight baskets including a 15-footer that made it 49-44.

Wilson hit a 3-pointer and had a putback and it was 54-44. Ethan White and Schreck had putbacks to make it 58-44 with 1:45 left in the quarter.

A layup by Terry put Ironton ahead 62-48 at the end of the quarter.

Wilson’s trifecta, Schreck a 3-point play and Terry a layup to start the fourth quarter gave Ironton its biggest lead at 70-48 with 6:28 left.

A layup by Gavin Gipson, a pair of 3-pointers by Johnson and a layup by Dillon cut the deficit to 75-58, but Wilson drained a trey, Schreck a layup and White a tip-in and it was 79-58 with 2:35 to play.

“We got big games offensively from Schreck and Terry. White and Wilson came up huge in the third and fourth quarters and Lincoln was Lincoln. We had a much better effort from our guys in the second half,” said Barnes.

Schreck was the only Ironton player with a big scoring night as Terry hit five 3-pointers and scored 25 points to go with 8 assists. Wilson added 11 points and 3 assists while White pulled down 10 rebounds.

Johnson scored 19 points for the Hornets (4-16, 3-10) and Dillon scored 16. Frecka came off the bench to get 13 points and 4 rebounds.

Coal Grove 10 27 11 16 = 63

Ironton     17 26 19 21 = 83

COAL GROVE (4-16, 3-10): Gavin Gipson 1 2 2-4 10, John Turner 1 0 0-0 2, Landen Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Elijah Dillon 5 2 0-0 16, Owen Johnson 5 3 0-0 19, Karsen Frecka 6 0 1-2 13, Luke Jenkins 1 0 0-1 2, Kaden Murphy 0 0 0-0 0, Kody Harmon 0 0 0-0 0, Caden Turner 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-51 3-7 64. 3-pt goals: 7-14. Rebounds: 8-O, 17-D = 25 (Dillon 5, Frecka 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 7. Steals: 2. Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (12-5, 9-3): Lincoln Barnes 2 0 0-0 4, Shaun Terry 5 5 0-0 25, Landen Wilson 1 3 0-0 11, Braden Schreck 16 0 2-5 34, Ethan White 2 1 0-0 7, Amari Felder 0 0 0-0 0, Tayden Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Bryce Markins 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Roach 1 0 0-0 2, Markel Cotton 0 0 0-0 0, Nick Sites 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 36-73 2-5 83. 3-pt goals: 9-20. Rebounds: 19-O, 19-D = 38 (White 10, Barnes 6, Carpenter 5, Schreck 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 15 (Terry 8, Wilson 3). Steals: 8 (Barnes 3, Terry 2). Blocks: 1 (White). Turnovers: 5. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.