WESTERVILLE - It was a familiar sight.

A last-second shot glanced off the rim, and as a result the Ironton Fighting Tigers had their second one-point loss of the season as they fell 54-53 to the Division I Westerville South Wildcats Tuesday in the Westerville Rotary Holiday Tournament at Otterbein College.

Ironton was trailing 54-51 when Dennis Gagai's 3-point attempt just missed going in at the buzzer. But Gagai was fouled and had a chance to tie the game by making all three free throw attempts.

Gagai sank the first shot but, after a South timeout, missed the second attempt. He made the third to set the final score.

"We set up the last shot and that last 3 looked good and almost went in," Ironton coach Roger Zornes said. "Dennis had a great game. His shot started to fall."

Despite the missed foul shot, Gagai finished with 19 points including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Brigham Waginger had 12 points, four assists and three steals. Derique Bacon also had 12 points and seven rebounds.

"That was a super talented team, but our kids really battled. We really came together as a team during this tournament. You're going to bond or fall apart, and we came together," Zornes said.

"Our inside guys played well. Nick (Collins) did a great job defensively, and Derique looks like he's starting to come on. We challenged him at halftime and he responded."

Actually, Gagai's foul shots could have been for the win. Bacon made a layup with about a minute to play that would have put Ironton ahead 53-50, but a foul was waved off and called a charge by an official on the other side of the floor.

Zornes displeasure with the officiating came to light with 48 seconds left in the third quarter and Ironton down 41-36. South was called for just two fouls the first half and only two more in the third quarter.

Although Eric Murphy made both technical free throws for a 43-36 lead, Ironton went on a 15-5 run to take a 51-50 lead with 3:20 to play.

Joe Zornes and Waginger each hit 3-pointers and Bacon made two layups in the run.

"We got down nine and I had to get on the officials a little bit and our kids responded," coach Zornes said.

Ironton (4-2) led most of the first half until Nick Moore hit a 3-pointer before the half to put South up 26-25.

After a layup by Waginger put Ironton ahead 31-30, South went on its own 15-5 run to lead 45-36.

Moore led South (5-1) with 21 points - 17 the first half - and Murphy had 20.

Waginger was named to the all-tournament team along with MVP Moore, Murphy, Josh Yanke (Massillon Jackson) and Dan Carafella (Westerville North).

North beat Massillon 47-42 in the consolation game.

Ironton1781315-53

Westerville1313199-54

IRONTON (4-2):

Josh Sands 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0, Brigham Waginger 5-9 (2-4) 0-0 12, Dennis Gagai 6-10 (5-9) 2-3 19, Joe Zornes 2-9 (1-4) 3-4 8, Derique Bacon 5-6 (0-0) 2-4 12, Nick Collins 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Marcus Williams 1-3 (0-0) 0-0 2, Patrick Kouns 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-38

(8-18)

7-11

53. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 8-14=22 (Bacon 7, Zornes 5). Team/dead ball rebounds: 3. Assists: 7 (Waginger 4, Gagai 2). Steals: 7 (Waginger 3, Sands 2). Turnovers: 16. FG% – 50. FT% – 63.6. 3pt% – 44.4

WESTERVILLE SOUTH (5-1):

Matt Coleman 0-1 (0-1) 0-2 0, Nick Moore 7-17 (3-10) 4-4 21, Robin Bailey 2-7 (0-1) 0-0 4, Eric Murphy 6-12 (1-3) 7-8 20, J Sharp 2-5 (0-0) 0-0 4, Michael Calo 2-4 (1-3) 0-0 5, Jeremy Pruitt

0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47

(5-18)

11-14

54. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-12=21 (Murphy 6, Moore 5, Sharp 5). Team/dead ball rebounds: 5. Assists: 4 (Sharp 2). Steals: 8 (Moore 3, Coleman 2). Turnovers: 10. FG% – 40.4. FT% – 78.6. 3pt% – 27.8.