Down but not out.

The Columbus Walnut Ridge Scots found themselves on the verge of being blown out only to battle back and stun the Largo (Md.) Lions 69-64 in overtime in the first game of the first annual Ironton Classic on Monday.

“I’m very proud of the way my team played. We bounced back very well from a loss last Tuesday to Marion Franklin who is a big rival. That was a game we were up for most of the game and gave it away at the end,” said Scots’ coach Jason Bates.

Largo led 29-26 at the half and went on a 12-2 run to start the second half. The Lions led 45-34 at the end of the third quarter.

But the Scots went to work behind Qualls and battled back to tie the game at 56-56 to force overtime.

“I made a change in the fourth quarter and we pressed more. I felt we really should have done it earlier but we were trying to get a feel for Largo,” said Bates.

Walnut Ridge came out and went on a 7-0 run and Largo could never recovered.

Jeremy Qualls scored 27 points to lead the Scots. Alvin Busbee added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Largo was led by Rashaud Richardson with 19 points.

Largo 14 15 16 11 8 = 64

Walnut Ridge 14 12 8 22 13 = 69

LARGO: Aaron Martin 3 1 0-2 9, Jayson Harmon 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon Bailey 2 0 1-4 5, Marcel Lane 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 3 0 0-1 6, Malik Thomas 4 0 1-2 9, Ehijele Olumese 1 0 2-3 4, Damonte McNeal 1 0 2-4 4, Rashaud Richardson 2 3 6-8 19, DeAndre Crusoe 0 0 0-0 0, Shane Smith 3 0 0-0 6, Daquan Markham 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 24-60 12-24 64. 3-point goals: 4-17. Rebounds: 13-21=34 (Thomas 7, Olumese 6). Assists: 9 (Markham, Richardson, Olumese, Martin 2 each). Steals: 9 (Martin 3). Turnovers: 18.

WALNUT RIDGE: Alvin Busbee 4 0 3-3 11, Julius Hurst 2 0 0-0 4, Austin Traylor 3 0 3-7 9, Jeremy Qualls 9 2 3-8 27, Romero Sumbry 1 0 1-2 3, Denzel Sims 1 1 4-8 9, Jed Reid 1 0 4-6 6, Rico Spears 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-51 18-34 69. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 3-11. Rebounds: 7-22=29 (Busbee 9, Reid 7). Assists: 10 (Sims 4). Steals: 8 (Sims, Qualls, Taylor 2 each). Turnovers: 24.

Mountain State 90,

Campbell Memorial 65

Noah Cottrill scored 28 points to lead the Mountain State (W.Va.) Academy Falcons past the Campbell Memorial Red Devils 90-65 on Monday in the first annual Ironton Classic.

Cottrill was 11-of-14 from the field including 6-of-8 from behind the arc to lead the Falcons.

Deniz Kilicli scored 19 points, Vander Joachin 11, and Jabs Newby 10 for the Falcons

“Campbell tried spread us out and make our big men come out. We were able to move around and help challenge shots,” said Fulford.

“This was a the best game we’ve played offensive so far this year. The big challenge I’ve had is to get the players up to play. I felt like they got challenge tonight and that made them play better. We had trouble tonight against their transition offense. They did a good job getting the ball down the floor on us.”

The Falcons led 22-16 at the end of the first quarter and built a51-38 halftime lead.

Mountain State began to pull away in the third quarter to a 73-51 lead.

“They’ve got boo coo talent,” said Campbell coach Brian Danilov. “We had it at a one-point game and then we gave up three standings 3-pointers. They had three big spurts that really did us in.

“We missed a lot of layups because our players were trying to draw fouls. We hurried in spots to get shots off, but I’m happy with the way we competed tonight.”

Mountain State 22 29 22 17 = 90

Campbell Memorial 16 23 12 14 = 65

MOUNTAIN STATE: Justin Drummond 3 0 0-0 6, Bryan Lowther 3 0 1-2 7, Jabs Newby 3 1 1-2 10, Deniz Kilicli 9 0 1-6 19, Can Korkmaz 0 2 0-0 6, Vander Joachin 3 1 2-2 11, Noah Cottrill 5 6 0-0 28, Keita 0 0 0-0 0, Jaineet Chhahbra 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 37-59 6-14 909. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 10-21. Rebounds: 11-20=31 (Kilicli 8, Cottrill 5, Lowther 5). Assists: 19 (Cottrill 6, Newby 4). Steals: 10 (Korkmaz 3, Cottrill 3). Turnovers: 12.

CAMPBELL MEMORIAL: Raul Pizarro 0 0 0-0 0, Lester Hughes 2 1 4-4 11, A.J. Naze 0 0 0-0 0, John Sikora 0 0 0-0 0, Germaine Somrajit 2 2 0-0 10, Joe Little 1 0 1-1 3, Jerah’me Williams 1 1 5-7 10, Nate Hodge 4 3 3-3 20, Michael Tiliakos 0 0 0-0 0, Doriann Jones 5 0 1-2 11, Doug Jones 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-55 14-17 65. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 7-16. Rebounds: 7-12=19 (Hughes 5, Williams 4). Assists: 12 (Williams 6). Steals: 10 (Hodge 3, Dorian Jones 3). Turnovers: 16.