Hannon provided the outside game Ironton has been missing in the early going of the season as he scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Fighting Tigers to a 70-51 win over the Coal Grove Hornets Tuesday.

Wednesday, December 22, 1999

Hannon provided the outside game Ironton has been missing in the early going of the season as he scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Fighting Tigers to a 70-51 win over the Coal Grove Hornets Tuesday.

"It was nice to hit a few jump shots," said Barnes.

But outside shooting wasn’t all that Ironton (2-3) was doing right. The Fighting Tigers had 14 assists and 12 steals.

Josh Harmon scored 12 points and had four steals, Drew Mains dropped in 10 points to go with two assists, and Jason Harmon had five assists and three steals.

"They were playing a triangle and two on (Jason) Harmon. If a team is going to play that kind of defense, you have to hit some shots," said Barnes.

"But we pushed the ball up the court better, our ball movement was better, and we hit some shots. Harmon did what he was supposed to do. He got the ball to the open man."

Coal Grove, 0-5, was led by Dean Mader with 19 points. Joe Sark added 8 points and Ryan Young had nine rebounds.

"Mader is our handyman," Hornets coach Darrell Humphrey said. "He brought the ball up the floor, shot the ball, rebounded, and played defense. And Josh Collins did a nice job off the bench."

Despite the loss, Humphreys wasn’t totally unhappy.

"One constant we have is effort," Humphrey said. "Ironton is more athletic, but our kids battled back. They were mentally tough.

"Scoring is going to be our Achilles heel. We’re young and we’ll get the peach fuzz off eventually."

Coal Grove took a 4-0 to start the game. Hannon hit a 3-pointer to trigger a 13-2 run and the Fighting Tigers led 13-6 with under five minutes in the quarter.

A 17-footer by Hannon, a 3-point by Harmon, and a baseline jumper by Hannon with 45 seconds left gave Ironton a 24-14 first quarter lead.

The Fighting Tigers led by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter when Mains sank two foul shots at the 1:34 mark. But Sark scored 4 points to close the half and it was 38-27.

A layup and two foul shots by Mader with 3:43 left in the third quarter pulled Coal Grove to within 43-38.

Ryan McClellan then hit a 15-footer, and Jason Harmon got a steal and layup for a 47-38 lead. Hannon’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to 10 and his 15-footer with 17 seconds left had Ironton up 52-42 at the end of the quarter.

Ironton jumped on the Hornets quickly the fourth quarter. Josh Harmon had a layup and Jason Harmon had another steal and layup for a 56-42 lead and 6:18 to play.

On Tuesday, Dec. 28, Ironton plays at Chesapeake while Coal Grove hosts Green.