JACKSON – The Ironton Fighting Tigers better strap on a bulletproof vest.

After winning by 30 at home, Ironton went on the road against the improving Jackson Ironmen and had to battle from start to finish as they picked up a 66-46 Southeastern Ohio Athletic League win Tuesday.

Ironton is now 9-2 overall and leads the SEOAL South Division with a 5-0 record. Coach Mark LaFon said the team’s success makes them an easy target.

‘They’ve got their kids playing hard. We’re in a position where we’re going to get everyone’s best game,” said LaFon. “Coach (Larry) Jordan has his kids playing hard. They made us work.”

On the plus side, the Fighting Tigers outrebounded Jackson 32-22. On the negative end, they were guilty of 20 turnovers, most of them unforced.

“I’m concerned about the turnovers, but we did rebound well. We got some nice putbacks on offense and we limited them to one shot most of the time,” said LaFon.

“I’m really pleased with how unselfish this team is. They’re not worried about who has the most points, they just want to do what it takes to win.”

A layup by Erin Edens put Ironton up 2-0 but Dylan Newsom came up with a steal and layup as Jackson tied the game.

Ironton then ran off nine unanswered points to lead 11-2.

Jackson didn’t score again until Merlin Morgan’s putback with 1:17 left in the quarter. Ironton answered back with a layup by Travis Elliott and a triple by Dustin Green — his second of the quarter — gave the Fighting Tigers an 18-6 lead at the end of the quarter.

Ironton opened up a 26-11 lead with 3:35 left in the half after a tip-in and layup by Lukas Morris, and it was 28-12 on a tip-in by Johnathon Schweickart at the 3:13 mark.

Jackson then got hot with a 9-0 run that was capped by Andrew Brown’s 3-pointer.

Schweickart’s foul shot with two seconds left put Ironton up 29-21 at the break.

Michael Lamb hit a spinning layup to start the second half and then buried a 3-pointer as Ironton wentu p 34-21.

Jackson (2-9, 1-4) got within 39-30 on a long 3-pointer by Morgan Dobbins only to have Lamb and Tommy Waginger hit a pair of baskets each and it was 45-36 at the end of the quarter.

The Ironmen were within 50-41 on Dobbins’ third 3-pointer of the game, but Ironton had a 9-2 run to lead 59-43 with 4:15 left to play.

A tip-in by Morris, a long trifecta by Green and a running 15-footer by Tim Kochendoerfer put the lead at 66-46 with 2:30 to play and LaFon emptied his bench.

“We had some shots that were open but we weren’t hitting them. We were getting layups and then we started taking other shots. We came out the second half and started getting layups again and you saw what happened.”

Lamb and Morris scored 13 points each, Green had 11 and Schweickart and Waginger nine each in a balance offense.

Dylan Newsom led Jackson with 18 points and Dobbins had 11.

Ironton 18 11 16 21 = 66

Jackson 6 15 15 10 = 46

IRONTON (9-2, 5-0): John Schweickart 4 0 1-2 9, Lukas Morris 5 0 3-5 13, Dustin Green 1 3 0-0 11, Erin Edens 1 0 1-2 3, Michael Lamb 5 1 0-0 13, Tommy Waginger 2 1 2-2 9, Tim Kochendoerfer 2 0 0-0 4, Travis Elliott 2 0 0-0 4, Casey Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Robbie Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Geoff White 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-56 7-11 66. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-12. Rebounds: 8-23=32 (Schweickart 9, Lamb 5). Assists: 21 (Green 9, Schweickart 5, Edens 3). Steals: 7 (Lamb 2, Kochendoerfer 2). Turnovers: 20. Blocked shots: 8 (Lamb 5).

JACKSON (2-9, 1-4): Kip Winchester 1 0 0-0 2, Eric Landrum 0 0 0-0 0, Morgan Dobbins 1 3 0-0 11, Dylan Newsom 6 1 3-4 18, Andrew Christman 1 0 0-0 2, Josh Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Merlin Miller 2 0 0-0 4, Andrew Brown 1 1 2-3 7, Kyle Newsom 0 0 0-2 0, Jasun Poetker 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-60 5-9 46. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-19. Rebounds: 14-8-22 (D. Newsom 8, Christman 6). Assists: 9 (Dobbins 5). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 12.

RESERVES: Ironton 49, Jackson 22. Ironton scoring: Tres Wilkes 8, Mac Carter 13, Michael Lawless 5, J.P. Taylor 15, Josh Murphy 1, Robbie Webb 3, Casey Jones 4. Jackson: Zach Miller 7, Travis Walker 2, Aaron Castilow 7, Klay Arthur 6.