When you do something wrong, you should just taken your punishment.

That wasn’t the case with the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Ironton was doing things wrong in the first half of Tuesday’s Ironton Classic game against Division I power Columbus Brookhaven.

But instead of being penalized, Ironton battled back from a 24-point deficit to actually take the lead before losing the Bearcats in the final seconds, 65-62.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t get this one, but I’m proud of our effort. A lot of teams that would have gotten down would have just taken the punishment. Our kids really battled back,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.

Baskets by Roderick Macon, Terrance Watkins and Craig Sealey put the Bearcats up 37-13 with 1:55 left in the first half.

Ironton closed the half with a 9-0 run that was started and finished by Tim Kochendoerfer sandwiched around Dustin Green’s triple and a steal and layup by Johnathon Schweickart.

The game took a 180 degree change in the third quarter as Ironton outscored Brookhaven 25-12 as they forced the Bearcats into numerous turnovers.

The Fighting Tigers chipped away the whole quarter and then got a trey from Tommy Waginger and layups by Erin Edens and Travis Elliott got Ironton within 49-47.

“We just put more pressure on the ball and took away the lanes. We weren’t doing that in the first half and we were giving them open looks and easy routes to the basket,” said LaFon.

“Offensively we weren’t stepping into our passes and we played tentative. The second half we were more aggressive.”

Lukas Morris made a layup off a pass from Edens to start the fourth quarter and tie the game. Waginger then drained another trifecta and Ironton held its first lead of 52-49 with 6:25 to play.

After trading the lead, Schweickart had a layup, Green scored after a steal by Malcolm Morton, and Green then followed up a missed shot and Ironton led 62-61with 1:50 to go.

Brookhaven regained the lead for good at 63-62 on a layup by Macon. Ironton turned the ball over under the basket and then Devon Montgomery converted two foul shots with eight seconds left to seal the win.

Kochendoerfer and Green scored 11 points each for Ironton (5-1). Watkins had 23 points and Montgomery 15 to lead the Bearcats.

Brookhaven 22 15 12 16 = 65

Ironton 8 14 25 15 = 62

BROOKHAVEN (3-2): Devon Montgomery 5 1 2-3 15, Craig Sealey 4 0 2-2 10, Tyree Robinson 1 0 0-0 2, Terrance Watkins 8 1 4-4 23, Roderick Macon 7 0 1-4 15, Brooks Carroll 0 0 0-0 0, Anthony Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-39 9-13 65. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-6. Rebounds: 9-11=20 (Sealey 8, Robinson 4, Watkins 4). Assists: 2 (Robinson 2). Steals: 10 (Robinson 3, Montgomery 3, Macon 3). Turnovers: 23.

IRONTON (5-1): John Schweickart 4 0 0-0 8, Tim Kochendoerfer 5 0 1-2 11, Lukas Morris 3 0 2-2 8, Dustin Green 3 1 2-3 11, Michael Lamb 2 0 0-0 4, Erin Edens 3 0 0-0 6, Tommy Waginger 1 2 0-0 8, Travis Elliott 2 0 0-0 4, Malcolm Morton 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 27-52 5-7 62. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 3-16. Rebounds: 9-5=14 (Edens 4, Green 3). Assists: 14 (Green 4, Morton 4). Steals: 8 (Kochendoerfer 3). Turnovers: 15.