Tommy Lutz saved his best for last.

Sunday, February 10, 2002

Tommy Lutz saved his best for last. It was the seniors final home game, so Ironton’s 6-foot-5 senior center turned up his play and scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Fighting Tigers 83-49 rout of the Fairview Eagles Friday.

"It didn’t cross my mind until after the game that it was my last game in that jersey," said Lutz. "My teammates were looking for me. It seemed like all four had their eyes on me. When teams have to pack it in, it opens things up outside."

Lutz also had eight rebounds as Ironton ran its record to 9-8. Senior guard Drew Mains scored only four points, but he had eight assists. Josh Sands added 11 points and Derique Bacon had eight points and six rebounds.

"I’m really happy for the seniors," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "We had three goals this season, and one of our goals was to win on senior night. The seniors have played well all year and they did a great job tonight."

Zach Moore had 10 points and six rebounds while Cody Fannin got nine points and six rebounds to lead winless Fairview (0-18).

Lutz scored 14 points the first quarter as Ironton raced to a 25-9 lead.

Senior Andy Brown came off the bench to score five points the second quarter including a 3-pointer and then a baseline jumper with 30 seconds left to put Ironton ahead 43-19 at the half.

Lutz went back to work the third quarter as he scored 10 points. His follow up shot with four seconds left gave Ironton a 65-36 lead.

Kevin Williams led the second unit with seven points the fourth quarter as Ironton continued to pull away. Senior Michael McGraw drained a 3-pointer with 2:35 left that began a 7-0 run and gave Ironton its biggest lead at at 81-42.

The Fighting Tigers hand their best shooting night of the season as they made 35 of 67 field goal attempts for 52.2 percent.

Fairview managed to make just 18 of 47 shots for 38.3 percent.

Ironton also held a 32-28 rebound adavantage and was guilty of 13 turnovers, half the Fairview total.

Ironton played at Lucasville Valley Saturday night and lost 66-41. The FIghting Tigers travel to Rock Hill Tuesday at Lawrence County, Ky., Friday.

Fairview 9 10 21 13 – 49

Ironton 25 18 22 18 – 83

FAIRVIEW (0-18): Roger Kaylor 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0, Billy Terry 3-9 (0-1) 2-2 8, Brandon Meek 1-2 (1-1) 0-0 3, Cody Fannin 3-8 (1-3) 2-2 9, Zach Moore 4-11 (0-1) 2-4 10, Brandon Wurts 1-5 (0-3) 0-0 2, Josh Miller 2-3 (1-1) 0-0 5, Tim Morgan 2-3 (0-0) 2-2 6, Brandon Yates 1-1 (0-0) 0-1 2, Lee Harris 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Alex Fairchild 1-2 (0-0) 2-4 4. Totals: 18-47 (3-10) 10-15 49. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-19=28 (Moore 6, Fairchild 6). Assists: 6 (Kaylor 2). Steals: 6 (Kaylor 2, Wurts 2). Turnovers: 26. Deadball/team rebounds: 2. FG% – 38.3. FT% – 66.7. 3pt% – 30.

IRONTON (9-8): Josh Sands 5-12 (1-4) 0-0 11, Aaron Quinn 1-2 (1-1) 1-2 4, Drew Mains 2-4 (0-1) 0-0 4, Derique Bacon 3-5 (0-0) 2-3 8, Tommy Lutz 14-18 (0-0) 2-2 30, Andy Brown 2-6 (1-3) 0-0 5, Andrew Harvey 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Michael McGraw 1-6 (1-2) 0-0 3, Ben Murphy 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Kevin Williams 3-5 (1-1) 0-0 7, Matt White 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Nick Collins 1-3 (0-0) 3-4 5. Totals: 35-67 (5-12) 8-11 83. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 10-22=32 (Lutz 8, Bacon 6, McGraw 5). Assists: 12 (Mains 8). Steals: 15 (Sands, Quinn, Bacon, Brown, Williams 2 each). Turnovers: 13. Deadball/team rebounds: 2. FG% – 52.2. FT% – 72.7. 3pt% – 41.7.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 48, Fairview 42. Ironton scoring: Brent McBride 9, Kevin Williams 7. Fairview scoring: Josh Miller 18, Jon Helton 13.