Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

JACKSON — Jourdyn Barrow isn’t a household name, but try telling that to the Chesapeake Panthers.
The Ironton Fighting Tigers’ senior forward came off the bench and ignited a 45-28 comeback win in the Division III sectional tournament semifinals on Tuesday.
Barrow scored a career-high 17 points to go with six rebounds and four steals.
“We always said the other guys and they know who they are on our team and who they are on the other team. Our other guys stepped up. They weren’t other guys tonight,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.
“They were Jourdyn Barrow, Joel Blankenship and Andrew Scott. Raphael Glover didn’t stop talking to our guys on the bench and keeping them up. They weren’t other guys tonight. They were names. That was the difference. That was a big team win.”
Ethan Wilson had 13 points as Ironton (13-9) advanced to play Minford at 8:30 p.m. on Friday in the sectional finals.
Minford beat Crooksville 69-58 in Tuesday’s second game.
“(Barrow has) made some mistakes, but he’s also been making some plays. I can live with the mistakes when you’re making big plays and he’s finally kind of turned that switch that I can make some mistakes but I’ve got to play hard. He did a great job on both ends tonight. He definitely was the X-factor,” said LaFon.
Chesapeake (4-19) was led by Cole Mills with 11 points.
The Panthers used a patient offense and some deadly shooting in the first half to lead most of the way and trail by just two points at the half.
After holding the ball nearly four minutes, Mills hit a 3-pointer at the 4:25 mark and Chesapeake led 3-0.
Wilson had a steal and layup but Mills hit a second 3-pointers and Zach Wright made a layup for an 8-2 lead. A put-back by Wright gave Chesapeake a 10-5 first quarter lead.
“It was about four minutes and the 3s they hit weren’t a breakdown on our part. We almost got a steal and we were scrambling around and they found the guy. The first two 3s were like that. It’s hard to sell it to your kids when you say, ‘Listen, you really played good defense even though you gave up a 3,” said LaFon.
“We almost came up with two steals and that’s what we need to do for the whole game. That’s why I called that early timeout. I told them ‘I know it doesn’t look good on the scoreboard, but I’m telling you I know you’re doing what I need you to do.”
A 3-pointer by Eric Harr at the 5:58 mark gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the game at 16-7.
But a steal and layup by Barrow ignited a 12-1 run to end the half including a layup by Scott off a pass from Ryan Bryant at the 1:20 mark as Ironton took a 19-17 lead at the break.
Mills and Casey McComas made layups to start the second half as the Panthers took their final lead of 21-19 at the 6:52 mark.
Wilson then drained a trifecta with 5:10 on the clock to give Ironton the lead for good. He added another basket for a 24-21 lead.
“Wilson, we just forget about him. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I guess that’s a compliment to him. He never asks for anything but he just keeps going. He’s a warrior,” said LaFon.
Wright’s layup got the Panthers within 24-23 but Barrow made two foul shots then he stole the ball and converted it into a three-point play for a 29-23 lead to end the quarter.
Barrow had a free throw and a put-back, Scott made a layup, Barrow scored off a pass from Bryant and then Bryant converted his own three-point play and Ironton lead 39-23 with 4:46 to play.
“(Bryant) grew, too, because he said he found there’s a lot of ways to do things. In this particular game they weren’t going to let him turn and just post up and score, so he said I’m going to get other people scores and he did,” said LaFon.
Chesapeake ended an 8-minute drought on a 3-pointer by Mills with 3:51 left but Barrow had another steal and layup and it was 41-26.
The Fighting Tigers — who racked up 13 steals — outscored the Panthers 38-12 over the final 22 minutes. LaFon said his young team is beginning to show signs of maturity.
“You could see it in their faces. It takes maturity out of your kids and I liked seeing that finally. You’ve got to remember that in the last couple of games we started getting these bad situations and we worked our way out. I could see our guys start to grow up a little bit. I’d like to see a lot more of it,” said Lafon.
“I felt like we were OK. It was good to see that your kids were saying ‘Hey, we’re listening to you coach, we hear you. We’re going to trust the process. Let’s go.’ And I like that.”
Ironton was 17-of-41 from the field for 41 percent while Chesapeake was 10-of-35 for 29 percent.
Chesapeake    10    7    6    5    =    28
Ironton       5    14    10    16    =    45
CHESAPEAKE (4-19): Casey McComas 1 1 0-0 5, Cole Mills 1 3 0-0 11, Austin jackson 0 0 0-2 0, Tanner Harr 0 0 3-4 3, Zach Wright 3 0 0-0 6, Eric Harr 0 1 0-0 3, David Dotson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10-35 3-6 28. 3-point goals: 5-13. Rebounds: 11-O, 12-D = 23 (McComas 5, Wright 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 4 (McComas 2). Steals: 4 (McComas 4). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.
IRONTON (13-9): Ethan Wilson 4 1 2-2 13, Andrew Scott 3 0 0-0 6, Kyle Adkins 0 0 0-0 0, Raphael Glover 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Bryant 1 0 3-4 5, Joel Blankenship 1 0 0-0 2, Jourdyn Barrow 6 0 5-6 17, Trevor Hacker 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Humphreys 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Payne 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Grizzle 0 0 0-0 0, Trent Milleson 1 0 0-0 2, Collin Freeman 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-41 10-12 45. 3-point goals: 1-8. Rebounds: 13-O, 16-D = 29 (Barrow 6, Scott 6, Bryant 6). Team/deadball rebounds; 2. Assists: 8 (Bryant 4). Steals: 13 (Barrow 4, Glover 2, Blankenship 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.
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Second Game
Crooksville    4    19    11    24    =    58
Minford    18    11    14    26    =    69
CROOKSVILLE: Michael Baughman 1 1 2-2 7, Chayse Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Co Hon Boyyard 0 0 0-0 0, Landon Hinkle 2 1 1-2 8, Dustin O’Neal 1 0 5-7 7, Sloan Mumford 1 0 0-0 2, Brady Brannon 0 0 2-2 2, Caden Miller 5 0 0-2 10, Brock White 1 0 0-0 2, Eric Taylor 4 1 9-12 20. Totals: 15 3 19-27 58. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Baughman, Miller, Taylor).
MINFORD: Kelton Kelly 5 1 3-4 16, Breydan Tilley 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler McCormick 0 0 0-0 0, Simon Thoroughman 0 0 0-0 0, Tanner Gampp 0 0 0-0 0, Elijah Craft 0 0 0-0 0, Logan Boston 0 0 0-0 0, Matthew Gullett 2 3 11-12 24, Cameron Dalton 4 0 3-4 11, Dillon Shepherd 4 0 5-8 23, Nathan McCormick 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5 22-28 69. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.