Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Ironton coach Mark LaFon’s game plan was to make someone else beat his Fighting Tigers other than Chase Villers and the other guy almost did.
The key word here is “almost.”
While Villers did his usual long-range shooting, he got help first form Tyler Conway and then from Joey McDonald. The Ashland Tomcats  were 12-of-21 from 3-point range collectively.
But the Fighting Tigers were equal to the challenge as they posted a 72-69 overtime win over the Tomcats on Thursday in The Ironton Classic.
“I kept sending guys at (Villers) just trying to get the ball out of his hands, but other guys were knocking it down so what can you do? He’s going to hurt you and — unless you’ve got that kind of team — you’ve got to send help early,” said laFon.
“Like (New England coach Bill) Belichick tries to do, I’m not going to let you beat me with your guy that can, it’s going to be someone else if you’re going to do it,” said LaFon.
Ironton (3-2) had plenty of weapons to run at the Ashland defense. Ethan Wilson had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Ryan Bryant got 15 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out in overtime.

Raphael Glover finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds and was named Ironton’s Player of the Game while Charlie Large had 13 points and 3 steals.
Ashland (1-7) was led by Villers with 18 points including three 3-pointers. Tyler Conway got 17 points with three 3s, and Joey McDonald scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the arc.
“This was a perfectly competitive game. They really got after it. Both sides never gave up. When they were exhausted, we came back.. They came back shooting it, we got worn down and we came back attacking. So it was fun,” said LaFon.
Ironton jumped out to a 14-1 lead and it was 20-6 after a put-back by Wilson. Conway hit a 3-pointer to close the first quarter.
Conway scored 8 points in the first quarter.
“I was disappointed with that. Fundamental defense would have taken care of that. That gave them a little life. But I think we got that corrected after a little while,” said LaFon.
The Fighting Tigers led by as many as 13 in the second quarter before Ashland got within 30-22 at the break.
After Ashland got within 34-28, Ironton used  a layup by Wilson to lead 43-31 with 4:03 on the third quarter clock.
Wilson and McDonald matched 3-pointers to close the quarter and Ironton led 46-40.
The Tomcats came all the way back to take their first lead of the game at 49-48 with 5:49 left on a 3-pointer by McDonald.
Wilson put Ironton up 57-56 with 39 seconds left but Villers hit 2-out-of-3 from the foul line and Ashland was up 58-57 with 23 seconds to go.
Wilson was then fouled on the inbounds play and hit a free throw to tie the game.
McDonald took a 3-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off the rim.
“That wasn’t the only time I was holding my breath,” said LaFon.
In overtime, Kyle Adkins hit a trifecta, Wilson sank two free throws and Glover’s layup gave Ironton a 67-60 lead with 1:30 on the clock.
Ashland again came back and got within 67-65 on a put-back by Villers. After a free throw by Wilson, Large and Bryant made layups and it was 72-67 with 21 seconds left.
“Hats off to our kids. I said to them come out like it’s the start of the game. Play like it is a 4-minute game and we did. We jumped out on them and we let them back in. But they handled it,” said LaFon.
Ironton played Wesley Christian on Friday and visits Huntington, W.Va., on Wednesday.
Ashland       9    13    18    18    11    =    69
Ironton       20    10    16    12    14    =    72
ASHLAND (1-7): Chase Villers 1 3 7-11 18, Hunter Copley 1 0 2-6 4, Joey McDonald 0 5 0-0 15, Blake Hester 0 0 0-0 0, DeVaunte Robinson 2 0 2-4 6, Tyler Conway 3 3 2-2 17, Tate Dowdy 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Heaberlin 2 1 2-3 9, Cooper Jordan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-44 15-26 69. 3-point goals: 12-21. Rebounds: 7-O, 13-D = 20 (Robinson 4, Copley 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 11 (Villers 6). Steals: 6 (Villers 2). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Heaberlin (4th 0:39), Hester (4th 0:22).
IRONTON (3-2): Ethan Wilson 4 1 8-16 20, Joel Blankenship 0 0 2-2 2, Charlie Large 3 2 1-4 13, Raphael Glove 7 0 2-2 16, Ryan Bryant 2 1 8-8 15, Kyle Adkins 2 1 0-0 7, Jourdyn Barrow 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Humphreys 0 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Dodgion 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-49 21-32 72. 3-point goals: 5-11. Rebounds: 20-O, 23-D= 43 (Bryant 11, Wilson 8, Glover 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 13 (Adkins 4, Wilson 3, Large 3). Steals: 8 (Large 3, Adkins 2, Blankenship 2). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Bryant (OT 1:06).