Ironton got its work done early.

Ironton jumped to a big first half lead and got balanced scoring as the Fighting Tigers beat the Jackson Ironmen 63-48 Tuesday in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

Ironton forced Jackson into 21 turnovers, 15 in the first half as the Fighting Tigers hit 18-of-35 shots from the field.

“We played pretty well the first half. Our defense did a good job of forcing turnovers and we shot the ball pretty well,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon. “It was nice to see Nick Lewis and Zach Christensen give us some offense, and Bub Johnson and Jon Schweickart did a nice job.”

Jon Schweickart led the balanced offense with 12 points. Center Nick Lewis had 11 points and seven rebounds. Bub Johnson and Zach Christensen also had 11 points each.

Christensen’s total included three baskets from behind the 3-point arc.

“We wanted to establish our inside game more the last few games and we’ve been able to do that,” said LaFon.

Ironton (3-3, 3-1) jumped out to a 14-5 lead as Lewis scored eight points, Schweickart hit a 3-pointer, and Marc Carter turned a steal into a layup.

Merlin Miller sank a pair of foul shots at the 3:54 mark to make it 14-7, but Christensen hit a 10-footer and a triple and Lukas Morris got a put-back as Ironton opened up a 21-7 lead.

Tyler Boggs’ 10-footer opened the second quarter and Jackson was down 21-9, but a trey by Christensen ignited a 9-1 run by Ironton and Byron Brammer’s follow-up shot capped it and the lead was 30-12.

Christensen hit another 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in the half to give Ironton a 42-17 lead, its biggest of the game. Andy Buescher hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer and Ironton’s lead was 42-20 at the break.

The Fighting Tigers were just 2-of-11 from the field in the third quarter and scored only seven points.

Jackson closed the quarter with seven unanswered points as Buescher hit a jumper, Boggs converted a 3-point play, and Evan Stacy made a layup to cut the deficit to 49-34.

But Ironton got back on track in the fourth quarter and began to stretch the lead.

Schweickart’s 3-point play pushed the difference to 56-39 and two foul shots by Bub Johnson made it 58-40 with 4:12 to go and the Fighting Tigers down-shifted gears.

“We didn’t play with the same intensity in the second half,” said LaFon. “We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We had 18 turnovers and only six were in the first half.”

Buescher had 15 points and Dobbins 10 to lead Jackson (2-5, 0-4).

Jackson7131414=48

Ironton2121714=63

JACKSON (2-5, 0-4): Tyler Boggs 1 0 1-2 3, Morgan Dobbins 1 1 5-8 10, Andy Buescher 5 1 2-6 15, Evan Stacy 2 0 0-0 4, Merlin Miller 2 0 3-3 7, Josh Brown 1 0 2-4 4, Byron DeLong 0 0 0-0 0, Dylan Newsome 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Newsom 1 0 3-4 5, Perry DiFranco 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-43 16-27 48. 3-point goals: 2-13 (Dobbins 1-7, Andy Buescher 1-5, Brown 0-2). Fouls: 16. Fouled out: K. Newsom (4th 5:00). Rebounds: 6-14=20 (Miller 6, Buescher 5, Brown 3). Team rebounds: 7. Assists: 2. Steals: 7 (Stacy 2, Buescher 2). Turnovers: 21.

IRONTON (3-3, 3-1): Marc Carter 2 0 1-4 5, Bub Johnson 4 0 3-3 11, Zach Christensen 1 3 0-0 11, Jon Schweickart 4 1 1-1 12, Nick Lewis 4 0 3-5 11, Lukas Morris 1 0 1-2 3, Erin Edens 3 0 0-0 6, Cory McKnight 0 0 0-0 0, Rob Webb 1 0 0-0 2, Byron Brammer 1 0 0-3 2. Totals: 25-58 9-18 63. 3-point goals: 4-11 (Christensen 3-4, Schweickart 1-3, McKnight 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Carter 0-2). Assists: 9 (Carter 3). Steals: 10 (Carter 3, Johnson 3, Edens 2). Turnovers: 18.

RESERVES: Ironton 48-20. Ironton leaders: Tommy Waginger 14, J.P. Taylor 13, Ryan Sias 6, Cody Taylor 6. Jackson: Perry DiFranco 10, Eric Landrum 5.