PORTSMOUTH – The Ironton Fighting Tigers were shooting at short range.

Monday, January 14, 2002

PORTSMOUTH – The Ironton Fighting Tigers were shooting at short range. The problem was they were shooting blanks.

The Fighting Tigers made only 12-of-50 field goal attempts including just 1-of-14 the fourth quarter as they fell 60-33 to the Portsmouth Trojans Friday night.

"Our defense didn’t beat us, we just didn’t shoot the ball very well. And they were short range shots in the paint. I don’t know how many rolled around the rim and fell out," said Barnes.

Besides the cold shooting, Ironton also found itself on the short end of the rebounding battle. Portsmouth dominated the boards 45-to-23 with 17 coming on the offensive glass.

"They hurt us on the boards, and they hit some 3s, but that isn’t what beat us," said Barnes. "Even in the fourth quarter when we had to shoot 3s, they were wide-open shots and we didn’t make them."

R. K. Thurman scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Portsmouth (8-2). Bradley Parker and Gerald Froe scored 11 each with Ash Greene added 10.

Tommy Lutz got 11 points and three rebounds to lead Ironton. Derique Bacon added eight points and seven rebounds. Drew Mains had six points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Ironton held its only lead at 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Josh Sands to begin the game. The game was tied 6-6 when Bacon followed up a missed shot at the 5:14 mark, but a layup by Jo Jo Parker with 3:44 left in the quarter gave Portsmouth the lead for good and the Trojans were up 12-8 at the end of the quarter.

Portsmouth went on a 10-0 run to begin the second quarter before two foul shots by Lutz stopped the run at the 4:21 mark. Ironton closed the gap to 29-18 at the half.

With Ironton making only 5-of-14 shots the third quarter, Portsmouth was able to take a 47-29 lead at the end of the quarter.

The shooting got worse the fourth quarter and Portsmouth continued to pull away.

Ironton (6-4) travels to Ashland, Ky., Tuesday.

Ironton 8 10 11 4 – 33

Portsmouth 12 17 18 13 – 60

IRONTON (6-4): Josh Sands 3-11 (0-4) 0-0 6, Drew Mains 2-6 (2-3) 0-2 6, Andy Brown 0-6 (0-3) 0-0 0, Derique Bacon 3-7 (0-0) 2-4 8, Tommy Lutz 4-11 (0-0) 3-6 11, Ben Murphy 0-0 (0-0) 2-2 2, Matt White 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Kevin Williams 0-5 (0-4) 0-0 0, Andrew Harvey 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0, Michael McGraw 0-2 (0-2) 0-0 0. Totals: 12-50 (2-18) 7-14 33. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 11-12=23 (Bacon 7, Lutz 3, Mains 2). Deadball/ream rebounds: 4. Assists: 6 (Mains 2, Harvey 2). Steals: 7 (Mains 3). Turnovers: 14.

PORTSMOUTH (8-2): Jo Jo Parker 3-5 (1-1) 2-3 9, Bradley Parker 5-7 (0-0) 1-3 11, Gerald Froe 4-12 (3-6) 0-0 11, Ash Greene 3-9 (1-4) 3-4 10, R. K. Thurman 8-14 (0-0) 0-0 16, Jeremiah Bolden 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Antonio Malone 0-4 (0-0) 1-2 1, Brice Kerns 0-0 (0-0) 0-1 0, Deron Duplain 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tyler Clifford 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Bob Waughtel 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 24-55 (5-11) 7-13 60. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 17-28=45 (Thurman 15, Malone 9, Froe 6, J. Parker 6). Deadball/team rebounds: 4. Assists: 8 (Froe 3, B. Parker 2, Greene 2). Steals: 8 (Greene 2, Malone 2). Turnovers: 17.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 62, Portsmouth 55. Ironton: Craig Lewis 18, Jeff Parnell 10, Aaron Quinn 12, Nick Collins 9; Portsmouth: Tyler Babcock 13, Michael Purdy 8, Tyler Clifford 8.