The Ironton Fighting Tigers might want to try their hand at detective work. They always seem to find their man.

Turning in a solid team effort, Ironton had 16 assists en route to a 74-26 win over the Fairland Dragons Thursday.

Spreading the wealth around worked as Ironton had five players in double figures and made 31 of 58 field goal attempts for 53.4 percent.

"I liked the way we played," Ironton coach Roger Zornes said. "We really found the open man, we played sound defense and we shot the ball well. We're getting the ball up and down the floor more and finding the open man."

Joe Zornes had 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals to lead Ironton, now 8-0. Brigham Waginger had 11 points, five assists and three steals, Greg Linn 11 points and six rebounds, Cliff Howard 10 points and six rebounds, and Dennis Gagai 10 points, four assists and four steals.

Todd Maynard had 9 points to pace Fairland (1-7).

"I thought Michael Spence and Travis Cardwell played hard," Fairland coach Chad Belville said. "We had some kids who didn't quit and played with some intensity."

Ironton went on an 18-0 run to start the game and led 25-2 as Joe Zornes scored 9 points.

Linn got 6 points in the second quarter to offset 7 by Maynard as the lead went to 37-13 at the half.

The Dragons were limited to 4 points in the third quarter while Ironton built an insurmountable 64-17 lead as Waginger and Howard scored 6 each.

Ironton's biggest lead was 71-19 on a layup by Chad Miller with 5:52 to play.

On Tuesday, Ironton is at Fairview, Ky., while Fairland hosts Jackson.

In the reserve game, Ironton won 55-22 as Michael Phillips had 14 points, Chad Miller 12, Austin Carter 8, and T.J. Keith and Shannon Hensley 7 each. Nick Zundel had 7 for Fairland.

Fairland21149-26

Ironton25122710-74

FAIRLAND (1-7):

Kyle Wise 1-4 (0-1) 0-0 2, Josh Johnson 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Todd Maynard 3-8 (0-2) 34 9, J.B. Smith 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Daniel Spears 1-3 (0-0) 0-0 2, Travis Cardwell 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Michael Spence 3-5 (1-2) 0-0 7, Josh Moore 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Zach Pemberton 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Ethan Black 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Nick Zundel 1-2 (0-1) 0-0 2, Michael Higgins 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Dustin Bumgardner 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 11-26

(1-6)

3-4

26. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 0-9=9 (Smith 3). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 2. Steals: 4. Turnovers: 27.

IRONTON (8-0):

Dennis Gagai 3-7 (2-3) 2-2 10, Brigham Waginger 5-6 (1-1) 0-0 11, Joe Zornes 6-7 (1-2) 0-0 13, Cliff Howard 5-7 (0-0) 0-2 10, Marcus Williams 3-6 (0-0) 0-2 6, Brent McBride 3-6

(0-0) 2-2 8, Greg Linn 4-6 (0-0) 3-4 11, Chad Miller 1-3 (0-0) 0-0 2, Patrick Kouns 0-5 (0-0) 1-4 1, Brian Wirzfeld 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Shawon Miller 0-1 (0-0) 0-1 0, Brandon Walker 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Michael Phillips 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, T.J. Keith 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 31-58

(4-7)

8-17

74. Fouls: 4. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 20-13=33 (Howard 6, Linn 6, Zornes 5, Kouns 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 16 (Waginger 5, Gagai 4). Steals: 18 (Gagai 4, McBride 4, Waginger 3). Turnovers: 9.