Ironton routs Russell, 61-25

Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 3, 2008

FLATWOODS, Ky. — The Ironton Fighting Tigers’ team colors are orange and black, but Saturday night their favorite color was Green.

Dustin Green had his second straight big game off the bench as he scored 21 points and the Fighting Tigers scorched the Russell Red Devils 61-25.

“Dustin had an excellent game. He shot the ball well,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon of Green’s 8-for-10 shooting effort.

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“The big key for us isn’t that our kids are accepting their roles, they’re starting to understand their roles. They’re starting to mesh together.”

Green hit a 3-pointer at the 2:40 mark that put Ironton up for good at 9-6. He then hit a trey with 43 seconds to go in the quarter and added a layup to push the lead to 16-8.

Greg Bender banked in a 3-pointer to get Russell within 20-11, but Bub Johnson had a steal and fed Green for an easy layup to make it 22-11.

Green followed with a triple and then got a steal and layup at the 4:10 mark and Ironton led 27-11.

Bender had two foul shots before Jon Schweickart hit a running 10-footer and Tim Kochendoerfer followed up a missed shot just before the buzzer and the lead was 31-13 going into the locker room.

Jacob Ferguson hit a foul shot for Russell to make it 33-16, but Ironton answered with a 12-0 run that started on a Zach Christensen baseline jumper and ended on a 3-pointer by Green and the lead was 45-18 at the end of the quarter.

“Our defense played really well and we did a great job on the boards. Russell had only four rebounds in the second half,” said LaFon.

Tim Kochendoerfer had nine points and seven rebounds as Ironton improved to 9-8. Christensen had seven rebounds, Robbie Webb grabbed five and Erin Edens four as Ironton dominated the glass 38-13.

Ferguson had eight points for Russell (3-20).

Ironton16151416=61

Russell8557=25

IRONTON (9-8): Marc Carter 1 0 1-2 3, Zach Christensen 1 0 0-0 2, Jon Schweickart 2 0 0-0 4, Lukas Morris 1 0 4-4 6, Cody Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Tim Kochendoerfer 3 0 3-5 9, Dustin Green 4 4 1-2 21, Nick Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, Erin Edens 1 0 2-2 4, Bub Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Robbie Webb 3 0 0-0 6, Cory McKnight 1 0 0-0 2, Byron Brammer 1 0 0-0 2, Ethan Preston 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-47 11-15 61. 3-point goals: 4-13. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 15-20=35 (Christensen 7, Kochendoerfer 7, Webb 5, Edens 4, Taylor 3, Schweickart 3). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 13 (Johnson 4, Carter 3). Steals: 12 (Carter 3, Kochendoerfer 3). Turnovers: 16.

RUSSELL (3-20): Eric Conley 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Ferguson 2 1 1-3 8, Kyle Skaggs 0 1 0-0 3, Michael Mayberry 0 0 0-0 0, Greg Bender 0 1 2-2 5, Casey Stapleton 2 0 0-0 4, Tanner Alexander 0 1 0-0 3, Kirby Whitaker 0 0 2-2 2, William Pullen 0 0 0-0 0, Nathan Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Ross May 0 0 0-0 0, Carroll Kennedy 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8-33 5-7 25. 3-point goals: 4-16. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Ferguson (4th 4:43). Rebounds: 3-7=10 (Mayberry 3, Ferguson 3). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 1. Steals: 3 (Mayberry 2). Turnovers: 24.

RESERVES: Russell 35, Ironton 26. Ironton leaders Erin Edens 10, Justin Payne 7. Russell: Tanner Alexander 16, Casey Stapleton 7.