Bench Brigade to the rescue.

Tired from not only a game Friday but a long bus ride to-and-from Marietta, the Ironton Fighting Tigers weren’t as sharp as they were in a 64-60 win the night before.

Fortunately, Ironton’s bench was able to supply some much need offense and rebounding as the Fighting Tigers beat the Logan Chieftains 59-54 Saturday afternoon in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“We played well early, but then we stopped playing defense. We just stood around and let the run by us,” Ironton coach Mark LaFon said. “Our bench was the difference. They hit some big shots and made some big plays. And we were tired, so they gave our starters a boost.”

Zach Christensen came off the bench to score 10 points, Drew Kuehne had 8 points including a pair of crucial 3-pointers, and Shannon Hensley got three big offensive rebounds and make some clutch foul shots.

Chad Miller led Ironton with 11 points and 6 assists. Dustin Green had 10 points and T.J. Keith grabbed 6 rebounds.

Jonathan Neff led Logan (4-12, 3-8) with 16 points. Lucas Wright had 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Ironton (13-5, 8-4) jumped on the Chieftains to start the game and made it look like it was going to be a rout.

A layup by Andy Colegrove off a nice pass from Carter, a steal and layup by Green and a 3-pointer by Christensen put Ironton up 14-4 at the 1:31 mark. A 15-footer by Kuehne to close the quarter gave the Fighting Tigers a 16-6 lead.

But after committing six turnovers in the first quarter, Logan had only two in the second quarter and shot 6 of 10 from the field. A 3-poiner by Neff got Logan within 24-23 with 49 seconds left in the half. A layup by Miller just before the buzzer put the lead at 26-23.

Kuehne hit a couple of treys that helped Ironton extend its lead to 37-32 in the third quarter, but a couple of layups by Neff cut the spread to 39-36 at the end of the quarter.

Logan pulled to within 45-44 on a pair of free throws by Wright with 3:57 to play. A 17-footer by Christensen and two foul shots by Hensley opened up a 49-44 lead.

The Chieftains were never able to get closer than 4 points the rest of the way as Miller made three key foul shots to seal the win.