By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

ATHENS — Not even a 34-point win could bring a smile to the face of Ironton coach Mark LaFon.

Despite a 70-36 rout of the Blanchester Wildcats at Ohio University on Saturday, LaFon was disappointed in his team’s overall performance.

“I’m happy we won, but I’m not happy with the way we played,” said LaFon. “We were not ready to play. We played with very little discipline and very little heart.”

After making some adjustments at halftime, Ironton outscored Blanchester 42-17 in the second half. The Fighting Tigers were 18 of 27 from the field in the second half while Blanchester was 7 of 22.

“They did a real nice job disguising their defenses and they kept mixing it up. We weren’t patient in our offense and that’s why their defense bothered us at times. They made us work really hard for our shots,” said LaFon.

Ironton outrebounded the Wildcats 42-33, but Blanchester had 11 offensive rebounds plus four more deadball rebounds on offense.

“We did not block out and that’s a mainstay for Ironton teams. We haven’t done that in either game this year,” said LaFon.

Zac Carter had 24 points and was named Ironton’s Player of the Game. Trey Fletcher added 13 points — all in the second half — and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Nick Culbertson came off the bench to score nine points and grab seven rebounds.

Jake Parker led Blanchester (2-2) with 15 points. Ironton held 6-foot-8 J.C. Luncan to two points and five rebounds.

Carter came out with the hot hand as he scored Ironton’s first six points and it was 6-2.

A layup by Cody Cromer got the Wildcats within 11-4, but Carter hit a trey and Culberton’s short jumper pushed the lead to 13-4.

Culbertson had back-to-back baskets to end the quarter and Ironton led 17-6.

Another triple by Carter to start the second quarter gave Ironton its biggest lead of the half at 20-6, but a 3-pointer by Blanchester’s Miles Burton cut the deficit to 24-16 with 1:08 lead in the half.

Travis Elliott sank four straight free throws to open up a 28-16 lead only to have Travis Jackson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and it was 28-19.

Blanchester cut the Ironton lead to just 35-29 on a basket by Kelly Penquite, but Ironton went on a 10-0 run including 3-pointers by Fletcher and Carter to open up a 45-29 lead and it was 47-32 at the end of the quarter.

The Fighting Tigers put the game away with 13 unanswered points to begin the fourth quarter and suddenly it was 60-32. Carter and Fletcher combined for nine points in the scoring spurt.

A triple by Malcolm Morton with 4:12 left extended the cushion to 65-34 and Ironton’s second unit took over.

Culbertson and Josh Glover took turns feeding each other for layups to complete the scoring and the easy win.

Ironton      17    11    19    23    =    70
Blanchester    6    13    13    4    =    34
IRONTON (2-0): Malcolm Morton 2 1 0-0 7, Travis Elliott 1 0 5-7 7, Zac Carter 7 3 1-1 24, Josh Murphy 1 0 0-0 2, Trey Fletcher 5 1 0-1 13, Trevor White 2 0 0-0 4, Josh Glover 2 0 0-1 4, Nick Culbertson 4 0 1-2 9, Geoff Delawder 0 0 0-0 0, Tanner Schweickart 0 0 0-0 1, Nolan Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-52 7-12 70. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-10. Rebounds: 7 offense, 35 defense = 42 (Fletcher 10, Culbertson 7, Elliott 6, White 8). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 12 (Glover 3, Morton 3). Steals: 11 (Carter 3, White 3). Turnovers: 16.
BLANCHESTER (2-2): Cody Cromer 2 0 0-0 4, Jake Parker 4 2 1-4 15, Travis Jackson 2 1 0-0 7, Miles Burton 0 2 0-0 6, J.C. Luncan 1 0 0-4 2, Kelly Penquite 1 0 0-0 2, Casey Rhoads 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb McCullough 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Barnes 0 0 0-4 0, Will Trivett 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-61 1-12 34. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-18. Rebounds: 11 offense, 14 defense = 25 (Parker 6, Lunkin 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Assists: 2. Steals: 7 (Luncan 2). Turnovers: 18.