Coach Mark LaFon was trying to imagine what would have happened if the Ironton Fighting Tigers had played the whole game like they did the first quarter.

LaFon was pleased and he was upset with the up-and-down play of his team, but he was more than happy the Fighting Tigers beat the Jackson Ironmen 69-39 Wednesday in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“We came out and played had and did what we were supposed to do the first quarter. If we had made our layups, we would have been up by 20,” said LaFon.

“But once we got the big lead, we went into cruise control. We got sloppy and turned the ball over without any pressure on the ball. But a win is a win, so we’ll take it.”

The win gave Ironton a 3-0 record and 1-0 in the SEOAL. LaFon knows his team will have to give a strong four-quarter performance Friday when preseason SEOAL favorite and Division II defending state champion Chillicothe comes to town.

“We have to get our minds in the right frame of mind before we play the game. You can’t just turn it on any time you want. If we do that Friday, Chillicothe will run us out of the gym,” said LaFon.

And now for the impressive first quarter.

After Tim Kochendoerfer followed up a missed shot 33 seconds into the game, Jackson used a pair of foul shots by Kyle Newsome to the game at the 6:58 mark.

From that point on it was all Ironton.

The Fighting Tigers forced 12 first half turnovers and held Jackson to just 4-for-21 shooting from the field.

Conversely, Ironton was 16-of-31 from the floor and came away with 10 steals.

A 3-pointer by Morgan Dobbins got Jackson within 11-7 with 2:26 left in the first quarter, but Ironton went on an 8-0 run that included a pair of layups by Erin Edens and a steal by Tommy Waginger who went the length of the floor for a layup at the buzzer and it was 19-7.

And now for the rest of the game.

Driving layups by Kochendoerfer and Waginger opened the second quarter and it was 23-7.

Dylan Newsom made two technical foul shots and Merlin Miller an 8-footer for Jackson, but then Ironton went on a 13-0 run to end the half.

Dustin Green had a putback, Lukas Morris got a layup and dunk, Michael Lamb and Edens scored inside, and Kochendoerfer drained a trey with 23 seconds on the clock as Ironton built a 36-13 halftime cushion.

Ironton’s starters played a little more than half the third quarter and left with a 44-19 lead after a steal by Morris and layup by Schweickart.

The Fighting Tigers led 52-27 at the end of the quarter thanks to pair of baskets by Edens, a triple by Waginger and a 15-footer by Malcolm Morton.

Ironton held its biggest lead at 64-29 with 4:20 left when Travis Elliott hit a short jumper in the lane.

“Tommy Waginger has been shooting the ball well and his defense is getting better. We’ve got some guys who are going to start getting more playing time is they keep improving,” said LaFon.

Waginger led Ironton with 13 points. Kochendoerfer had 12 points and four steals while Edens finished with 12 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Dylan Newsom scored 12 points for Jackson (0-5, 0-1).

Jackson 7 6 14 12 = 39

Ironton 19 17 17 16 = 69

JACKSON (0-5, 0-1)

Player FG FT Reb Pts.

Kip Winchester 0 0-0 0 0

Dylan Newsom 3 3-4 5 12

Josh Brown 0 0-0 1 0

Kyle Newsom 2 2-3 3 6

Andrew Christman 2 0-3 3 4

Eric Landrum 1 0-0 3 2

Andrew Brown 2 2-4 2 8

Merlin Miller 2 0-0 5 4

Morgan Dobbins 1 0-1 1 3

Totals 14-47 7-14 23 39

3-point goals: 3-19 (D. Newsom 1-3, Winchester 0-1, J. Brown 0-1, Landrum 0-1, A. Brown 2-4, Dobbins 1-9). Rebounds: 27 (9-off, 14-def, 4-team/deadball). Assists: 8 (J. Brown 3, Dobbins 2). Steals: 8 (Landrum 3, D. Newsome 2, J. Brown 2). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (3-0, 1-0)

Player FG FT Reb. Pts.

John Schweickart 4 0-0 4 8

Tim Kochendoerfer 4 3-6 4 12

Lukas Morris 2 0-0 1 4

Dustin Green 2 2-4 2 6

Michael Lamb 2 0-4 5 4

Tommy Waginger 5 0-0 3 13

Malcolm Morton 3 0-1 1 6

Travis Elliott 1 0-0 3 2

Erin Edens 5 2-3 6 12

Robbie Webb 0 0-0 4 0

Casey Jones 1 0-0 5 2

Jonathan Norris 0 0-0 1 0

Totals 29-57 7-18 32 69

3-point goals: 4-8 (Waginger 3-5, Kochendoerfer 1-2, Green 0-2). Rebounds: 38 (17-off, 21-def, 6-team/deadball). Assists: 12 (Schweickart 3, Waginger 2). Steals: 15 (Schweickart 5, Kochendoerfer 4). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

RESERVES: Ironton 41, Jackson 19. Ironton scoring: Mac Carter 10, Tres Wilks 8, Malcolm Morton 6, Josh Murphy 6, Jonathan Norris 4, Robbie Webb 3, Casey Jones 2, Mason Weisgarber 2.