UHRICHSVILLE — Things went from bad to worse to bad to better.

Locked in an uphill battle the entire game, the Ironton Fighting Tigers finished strong to beat the Claymont Mustangs 60-56 Friday in the Dennison Yard Claymont Classic.

“It didn’t go well for a long, long time,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon. “But the kids stayed with it and just kept battling.

They chipped away and got to within five at the half and then they kept battling in the second half. We held them to 19 points in the second half.”

Bad start.

Claymont, a Division II school, opened up a 12-5 lead to start the game as Ironton made just 1-of-6 from the field early.

Brennen Mills hit the first of two technical fouls for a 20-11 lead, but a free throw by Nick Lewis and a 3-pointer by Marc Carter got Ironton with 20-15.

Daniel Wise had a layup before the end of the quarter to put the Mustangs up 22-15.

Things get worse.

Claymont (3-5) opened up a 37-25 lead late in the half on a three-point play by Wise with 1:37 left in the half.

Bad again.

Claymont was up 37-27 with the ball, but a turnover changed Ironton’s fortunes.

Carter hit a long trifecta and Robbie Webb scored just before the buzzer off a nice pass from Ethan Preston as Ironton got within 37-32 at the break.

The better begins.

Carter scored and Jon Schweickart converted a 3-point play as Ironton tied the game at 37-37.

Claymont didn’t score until the 4:05 mark of the third quarter and managed to go up 44-42 at the end of the quarter.

Now for the good part.

Lukas Morris got a put-back and a short jumper to give Ironton its first lead of the game at 46-44 with 6:07 to play.

A 6-0 spurt by the Mustangs gave them a 50-46 lead, but Carter hit a 3-pointer and, after a layup by Claymont’s Josh Brinley, hit two more triples and Ironton had the lead for good at 55-52 with 2:30 left.

Claymont was down 55-54 with the ball, but Bub Johnson came up with a steal and hit a foul shot, and then Schweickart had another steal that led to a pair of free throws by Carter and it was 58-54.

Another turnover by the Mustangs sent Schweickart to the line with 10 seconds left and he hit both shots for a 60-54 lead.

Carter had 29 points including 6-of-12 from 3-point range. Johnson and Carter had four rebounds each and Carter had five steals.

Morris added 11 points for Ironton (5-4).

Golec had 16 points for Claymont, Wise 14 and Brinley 11.

Ironton15171018=60

Claymont2215712=56

IRONTON (4-3): Marc Carter 4 6 3-5 29, Bub Johnson 0 0 1-1 1, Zach Christensen 2 0 0-0 4, Jon Schweickart 1 0 5-6 7, Nick Lewis 0 0 1-2 1, Lukas Morris 5 0 1-3 11, Erin Edens 0 0 0-0 0, Robbie Webb 2 0 3-5 7, Cody Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Preston 0 0 0-0 0, Cory McKnight 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-45 14-22 60. 3-point goals: 6-15. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-17=24 (Carter 4, Johnson 4). Assists: 10 (Johnson 3). Steals: 10 (Carter 5). Turnovers: 11.

CLAYMONT (3-5): Josh Brinley 5 0 1-2 11, Logan Addison 2 0 2-2 6, Randson Burdette 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Wise 4 1 3-4 14, Zach Golec 8 0 0-0 16, Chris Foltz 0 0 0-0 0, Brennen Mills 0 0 1-2 1, Derek Kreinbihl 0 0 1-2 1, Aaron Cox 1 1 2-2 7, Derek Cox 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-46 11-14 56. 3-point goals: 2-10. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 8-18=26 (Brinley 8, Wise 7, Golec 6). Assists: 9 (Brinley 3, A. Cox 3). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 18.