Leading scorer Dennis Gagai sat out half the game with a slight ankle sprain. Second leading scorer Brigham Waginger had just one point. Nick Collins was out with an illness.

Sounds like disaster for the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Well, don't always listen to what you hear. Go with what you see, and what you saw Saturday night was four players in double figures plus a swarming defense that led Ironton to a 77-36 spanking of the River Valley Raiders.

Josh Sands led the offense with 23 points including four 3-pointers. Derique Bacon had 14 points in the pivot, Marcus Williams came off the bench to score 10 points and grab seven rebounds, and Joe Zornes had 10 points and six assists.

"That's what's going to happen with this team. We don't have to rely on one player. We rely on our defense," Ironton coach Roger Zornes said.

"Brigham didn't score much, but he creates so much with his defense and passing. We rely on our defense to create offense. When you're not having a good night offensively, your defense can carry you."

The defense forced River Valley into 23 turnovers, mostly in the first half before Zornes called off the fullcourt press and began substituting freely the second half.

The win was the eighth straight for Ironton, now 12-2.

River Valley (3-10) was led by Steve Harder with 11 points and nine rebounds. Colby Reese added eight points.

Sands scored nine points in the first quarter as Ironton jumped in front 17-4.

Leading 38-10, Gagai followed up a missed shot, Patrick Kouns made two foul shots, Gagai sank one of two from the line, and Tyler McDaniels had a putback as Ironton took a 39-10 lead.

A free throw by the Raiders Chris Brown put the halftime score at 39-11.

Bacon hit two straight shots to begin the third quarter and the Fighting Tigers continued to put distance between them and the Raiders as the lead grew to as many as 39 points in the third quarter.

"We've been wanting Derique to step up and be more aggressive. He hasn't been looking for his shot," coach Zornes said.

Brandon Walker's layup with 57 seconds to play in the game set the final score and gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game.

In the reserve game, Ironton rolled to a 61-18 win as Shawon Miller scored 15, Brandon Walker 11, and Josh Adkins 10. Cody Edwards had six for the Raiders.

River Valley471411-36

Ironton17222216-77

RIVER VALLEY (3-10):

Chris Roush 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0, Darren Clark 1-5 (0-0) 0-0 2, Jared Swain 3-7 (0-1) 0-0 6, Colby Reese 4-9 (0-1) 0-0 8, Steve Harder 4-9 (0-0) 3-6 11, Daniel Berry 2-4 (0-1) 0-1 4, Chris Brown 1-3 (0-1) 1-2 3, Derek Smith 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Trace Fraley 0-4 (0-0) 0-0 0, Semaki Corflas 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2. Totals: 16-47

(0-6)

4-9

36. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-19=25 (Harder 9). Team/dead ball rebounds: 3. Assists: 4. Steals: 5 (Swain 3). Turnovers: 23. FG% – 34. FT% – 44.4. 3pt% – 0.

IRONTON (12-2): Josh Sands 8-14 (4-7) 3-4 23, Brigham Waginger 0-4 (0-2) 1-2 1, Dennis Gagai 2-7 (1-4) 1-2 6, Joe Zornes 4-7 (0-3) 2-2 10, Derique Bacon 7-8 (0-0) 0-0 14, Marcus Williams 6-9 (0-0) 0-1 12, Patrick Kouns 2-8 (0-0) 3-4 7, Tyler McDaniels 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Brent McBride 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Greg Linn 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brandon Walker 1-4 (0-1) 0-0 2, Shawon Miller 0-2 (0-1) 0, Michael Phillips 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 31-68

(5-18)

10-15

77. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Kouns. Rebounds: 17-27=44 (Williams 7, Zornes 6, Gagai 6, Waginger 5, Bacon 5). Team/dead ball rebounds: 3. Assists: 13 (Zornes 6, Waginger 5). Steals: 12 (Williams 3, Waginger 2, Zornes 2, Gagai 2). Turnovers: 9. FG% – 45.6. FT% – 66.7. 3pt% – 27.8.