Sunday, January 27, 2002

Winning the "Battle of the Boards" doesn’t guarantee winning. Especially when Shane Holsinger wins the long-range shooting contest.

Despite being outrebounded, the South Point Pointers beat the Ironton Fighting Tigers 64-54 Friday behind the 30-point performance of Holsinger.

Holsinger scored his 30 points as he made 6-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc and converted 8-of-12 from the foul line.

But Holsinger got plenty of help. Justin Eaches added 10 points and Donte Pennington had nine key points and five rebounds.

"Pennington and Patrick McCleary stepped up, Saul Thompson did a nice job on the boards, and Seth Craft hit two big 3s," Pointers coach Mark Lafon said. "We played about as well as we’ve played all year."

The Fighting Tigers dominated the boards 39-25 including 16 on the offensive glass.

However, the difference game was the long-range shooting and turnovers. Both teams made 20 field goals, but the Pointers were 8-of-11 from 3-point range with 13 turnovers while Ironton was just 2-of-14 behind the arc and committed 22 turnovers, many unforced.

Ironton saw its modest two-game winning streak end and fell to 8-6.

"We pointed to this game as a turning point, and then we played awful," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "Holsinger had 30 and he had six 3-pointers. I would have felt better if we made him work for his points, but we left him with wide-open looks. We just backed off of him at times and let him shoot."

Tommy Lutz had 20 points and eight rebounds to pace Ironton. Derique Bacon scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

South Point led early 11-6 before a dunk by Lutz and a steal and layup by Aaron Quinn put Ironton ahead 14-11 at the 3:32 mark of the first quarter.

The Pointers closed the quarter with a 6-0 run capped by Holsinger’s 3-pointer and took the lead at 22-18.

Ironton was just 2-of-9 from the field the second quarter as South Point extended its lead to 37-25 at the half.

Holsinger’s 3-pointer at the 1:49 mark of the third quarter gave South Point its biggest lead of the night at 51-33.

But Ironton used a 3-pointer by Andy Brown and a follow-up shot by Bacon to get within 51-38 at the end of the quarter.

Josh Sands had a layup and two free throws and Lutz got a layup with 7:07 to play to draw Ironton within 51-44.

Holsinger stood unguarded and hit a 3-pointer and then Pennington made a layup at the 3:03 mark and the lead was 58-46.

Ironton could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

South Point 22 15 14 13 – 64

Ironton 18 7 13 16 – 54

SOUTH POINT (8-5): Donte Pennington 4-4 (0-0) 1-3 9, Justin Eaches 4-10 (0-2) 2-6 10, Adam Workman 1-4 (0-0) 2-3 4, Shane Holsinger 8-20 (6-6) 8-12 30, Patrick McCleary 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Seth Craft 3-6 (2-3) 0-0 8, Saul Thompson 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jonathan Green 0-0 (0-0) 0-1 0. Totals: 20-46 (8-11) 16-29 54. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-19=25 (Holsinger 6, Thompson 5, Pennington 4). Assists: 2 (Holsinger 2). Steals: 6 (Eaches 2, Workman 2). Turnovers: 13. Deadball/team rebounds: 1. FG% – 43.5. FT% – 55.2. 3pt% – 72.7.

IRONTON (8-6): Aaron Quinn 2-9 (1-4) 1-1 6, Josh Sands 2-14 (0-4) 2-2 6, Drew Mains 2-7 (0-3) 0-1 4, Derique Bacon 5-7 (0-0) 3-3 13, Tommy Lutz 8-11 (0-0) 4-6 20, Andrew Harvey 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Andy Brown 1-4 (1-3) 2-2 5. Totals: 20-54 (2-14) 12-15 54. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Mains (0:14 4th). Rebounds: 16-23=39 (Bacon 11, Lutz 8, Quinn 7, Mains 5, Brown 4). Assists: 9 (Quinn 3, Sands 2). Steals: 5 (Sands,Mains, Harvey, Quinn, Bacon 1 each). Turnovers: 22. Deadball/team rebounds: 4. FG% – 37.0. FT% – 80.0. 3pt% – 14.3.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 46, South Point 22. Ironton: Craig Lewis 13, Nick Collins 12. South Point: Quintin Smith 17.