Coach Roger Zornes doesn't want a bunch of gold fish. He wants piranhas.

Zornes called for and got his Ironton Fighting Tigers to play their style of basketball Tuesday as they whipped the Zanesville Blue Devils 69-50.

Ironton, 7-0, played aggressively most of the game. The only exception came in the fourth quarter when Zanesville whittled a 22-point deficit down to 47-36 on a long 3-pointer by Logan Aronhalt with 6:36 to play.

Zornes called a time out to explain how he wanted his team to play, and Ironton responded with baskets by Brigham Waginger and Marcus Williams that started a 15-4 run and it was 62-40 with 2:27 to go.

"We're not the kind of team that passes (the ball) around. We have to attack and we weren't attacking," coach Zornes said. "Once we came back out and did that, we forced five turnovers and scored."

The Division I Blue Devils came out and hit two long 3-pointers by Kodey Haddox and Logan Aronhalt

and led 6-0. But Ironton roared back to take a 17-9 lead at the end of the quarter when Waginger hit a baseline jumper.

Greg Linn followed up a missed shot and Waginger hit a 15-footer as the lead went to 33-18 at the half.

Waginger's baseline jumper at the 3:03 mark of the third quarter put Ironton up 43-21. Zanesville outscored Ironton 7-2 over the final minute of the quarter to trail 47-31.

"They looked more like a football team instead of a basketball team. But we played physical with them," Waginger said.

Waginger led Ironton with 24 points as he made 10 of 15 field goal attempts. He also had 10 rebounds, three assists and seven steals.

"I worked on (his jump shot) during the summer with Ty Barnes. I worked on my explosion and my timing," Waginger said.

Dennis Gagai scored 15 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Steven Hollins had 11 points and Kodey Haddox 10 points to lead Zanesville, 3-3.

"We beat a good team," coach Zornes said. "That was our best on-the-ball defense we've played all year. We made them look bad at times."

In the reserve game, Ironton won 34-26 as Michael Phillips and Marc Carter scored 8 points each while T.J. Keith and Chad Miller had 7 each.

Zanesville991319-50

Ironton17161422-69

ZANESVILLE (3-3):

Kodey Haddox 4-11 (2-3) 0-2 10, Korey Haddox 1-6 (0-2) 0-0 2, Steven Hollins 3-5 (0-0) 5-6 11, Jordan Aronhalt 0-3 (0-1) 1-2 1, Logan Aronhalt 3-8 (2-4) 0-0 8, Nick Martin 1-3 (1-2) 0-0 3, Dakota Matz 2-4 (1-2) 0-0 3, Jordan McKee 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jamal Jones 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Dustin Shumate 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Caleb McFerren 3-4 (2-2) 0-1 8, Josh Balderson 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jordan Thompson 0-0

(0-0) 0-0 0, Bryant Keith 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 18-46

(8-16)

6-11

50. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 4-23=27 (L. Aronhalt 7, Hollins 5, Kodey Haddox 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 4. Steals: 5. Turnovers: 26.

IRONTON (7-0):

Dennis Gagai 5-15 (0-5) 5-6 15, Brigham Waginger 10-15 (1-2) 3-4 24, Joe Zornes 3-9 (1-2) 2-4 9, Cliff Howard 4-6 (0-0) 1-2 9, Marcus Williams 3-11 (0-0) 0-2 6, Brent McBride 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Patrick Kouns 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Greg Linn 2-7 (0-0) 0-2 4, Tyler McDaniels 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brent Wirzfeld 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Shawon Miller 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 28-66

(2-9)

11-20

69. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 16-25=41 (Waginger 10, Zornes 7, Howard 5, Williams 5, McBride 5, Linn 5, Gagai 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 13 (Zornes 4, Gagai 4, Waginger 3, Williams 2). Steals: 18 (Waginger 7, Gagai 4, Williams 3). Turnovers: 15.