Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Someone take away the basketball from Zac Carter and hand him an orange and black ink pen.

Carter re-wrote the record books Saturday as he scored 37 points to give him 1, 598, thus setting a new school scoring record in the Ironton Fighting Tigers 84-56 win over the Spring Valley Timberwolves.

Carter was 20 of 24 from the foul line and he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter — all from the foul line. He also had 7 rebounds and 9 steals.

Dennis Gagai held the record with 1,596 points. Carter entered the game with 1,561.

“It’s a special moment. It means a lot to me. When I was a little boy watching my brother (Marc) I always looked up to Dennis because he could shoot the 3s. He was a role model and an inspiration. I always wanted to be as good or better than he was,” said Carter.

“If it wasn’t for my teammates I would not have been able to break this record. When he took me out I was mad. I told him I’ve ran so many suicides to get here I wanted to do this at home for the fans.”

Ironton coach Mark LaFon was torn between leaving Carter in the game and risking an injury or letting him go for the record.

He opted for the record.

“He wanted to do this at home for our people. I’m glad for him. It was a lot of work on his part. Now we can focus on the job at hand,” said LaFon.

Lost in the excitement of Carter’s milestone was Trey Fletcher who scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Spring Valley (5-13) was able to stay in striking range with good outside shooting. The T-wolves were 9 of 18 from the 3-point line, but Ironton’s inside and outside combination as well as speed and quickness proved to be too much for the T-wolves’ defense.

“We got out of the press after the first quarter. (Spring Valley) is a very good half-court team. We probably shouldn’t have gotten out of our press and that’s on me,” said LaFon. “But we’re going to see teams like this and we have to be able to play different defenses against them.”

Ironton dominated the glass 41-25 including 17 offensive rebounds to just 5 for Spring Valley.

Ironton opened the game with a 7-0 run before the T-wolves got within 11-7 on a 3-point by Joshua Steele.

But Carter drained a 3-pointer, then stole the ball for a layup and helped Ironton take an 18-10 lead at the end of the quarter.

A triple by Steele and a layup by Jacob Kilgore got Spring Valley within 20-17. A foul shot by Fletcher and a steal and dunk by Carter opened up a 24-17 lead.

Fletcher converted a 3-point play and then followed up his own miss gave Ironton a 31-21 lead.

The lead was 37-27 on a pair of layups by Fletcher but Tucker Meade hit a baseline shot at the buzzer and it was 37-29 at the break.

Spring Valley got with 39-3 on two foul shots by Greg Herbert, but two free throws by Fletcher and an 18-footer by carter with 4:10 left in the quarter made it 48-37.

Keyser’s 3-pointer cut the spread to 48-40, but Carter turned a steal into a layup and Fletcher’s trifecta opened up a 54-40 lead.

A 10-footer by Fletcher and two foul shots by Carter closed the quarter and Ironton led 58-43.

Two foul shots by Joe Bowling and a layup by Josh Glover gave Ironton a 65-45

From that point on it was just a matter of waiting for Carter to finish his chase for the record book.

Herbert had 16 points and Keyser 13 to lead the Timberwolves.

Ironton plays at Chillicothe on Tuesday and closes out the regular season with senior night on Friday against Fairland.

Spring Valley 10 19 14 13 = 56

Ironton 18 19 21 26 = 84

SPRING VALLEY (5-13): Tyler Robertson 1 0 0-0 2, Austin Keyser 2 3 0-0 13, Joshua Steele 1 2 0-0 8, Greg Herbvert 4 1 5-7 16, Jacob Kilgore 2 1 0-0 7, Nathan Marcum 0 1 0-2 3, Calvin Hinchman0 0 0-0 0, Dionte Coleman 0 0 2-2 2, Tucker Meade 2 0 0-0 4, Austin Adkins 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 20-48 8-13 56. 3-point goals: 9-18. Rebounds: 5 offense, 20 defense = 25 (Robertson 5, Kilgore 5). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 6 (Robertson, Steele 2). Steals: 2. Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Robertson, Steele).

IRONTON (16-2): Zac Carter 7 1 20-24 37, Josh Glover 2 0 0-0 4, Trevor White 2 0 0-0 4, Trey Fletcher 5 3 8-11 27, Aaron Stephens 3 0 0-0 6, Tristan Cox 1 0 2-2 4, Joe Bowling 0 0 2-2 2, Jake Long 0 0 0-2 0, Nate Garred 0 0 0-0 0, Jalen Schweickart 0 0 0-0 0, Darrius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-58 32-41 84. 3-point goals: 4-16. Rebounds: 17 offense, 24 defense = 41 (Fletcher 11, White 7, Carter 7, Stephens 5). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 6 (Bowling 2). Steals: 12 (Carter 9). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 12. Fould out: None.