By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

LLOYD, Ky. — The toughest opponent the Ironton Fighting Tigers faced Tuesday was themselves.

Ironton played a sluggish first half, failed to shoot well from the field and didn’t capitalize after creating turnovers in a 62-57 loss to the Greenup County Musketeers.

Ironton made just one of its 18 3-point field goal attempts and converted only 12 of 22 free throws. Overall from the field, Ironton was 22 of 58 for 37.9 percent.

The Fighting Tigers (9-2) forced Greenup into 23 turnovers including 16 in the second half.

Trey Fletcher had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead Ironton. Trevor White had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Zac Cater had 9 points, and 4 steals before fouling out.

Greenup County (9-8) got a boost when Tanner Willis came off the bench to score 16 points including 4 of 5 shooting from the 3-point arc. Also scoring 16 points was 6-foot-8 Hayden Stephenson while Justin Bond added 15 points and was 2 of 3 from behind the arc.

The Musketeers were 19 of 36 from the field for 52.7 percent and 6of 12 from 3-point range.

Ironton held just one lead in the game when Nolan Johnson made a layup at the 7:43 mark of the first quarter.

The Fighting Tigers managed to close the gap to 21-17 on a short jumper by Fletcher in the second quarter only to see the Musketeers put together a 7-0 run to close the half and lead 32-21.

Greenup had its biggest lead at 42-26 late in the third quarter on a layup by Darius Jackson.

The Fighting Tigers used layups by White and Carter to begin the fourth quarter and get within 42-38, but a 3-pointer by Bond pushed the lead to 47-40.

Stephenson and Jackson each made a free throw as Greenup went up 55-45. Fletcher made a layup and two foul shots with 58 seconds left as Ironton got within 55-49.

White drained a trifecta with seven seconds to goto get Ironton within 60-57, but Stephenson converted two foul shots one second later to seal the win.

Ironton visits Spring Valley, W.Va., on Saturday.

Ironton 8 13 13 23 = 57

Greenup Co. 17 15 10 20 = 62

IRONTON (9-2): Zac Carter 3 0 3-4 9, Trey Fletcher 8 0 6-7 22, Dion Brown 2 0 0-0 4, Nolan Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Josh Glover 0 0 0-0 0, Trevor White 6 1 1-7 16, Aaron Stephens 0 0 1-2 1, Tanner Dutey 1 0 1-2 3, Darrius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Garred 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-58 12-22 57. 3-point goals: 1-18. Rebounds: 18-15=33 (Fletcher 11, White 10, Stephens 5). Assists: 7 (Glover 4, White 2). Steals: 9 (Cater 4, Dutey 2). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Carter, Glover.

GREENUP COUNTY (9-8): Hayden Stephenson 4 0 8-12 16, Justin Bond 4 2 1-2 15, Justin Holsinger 0 0 0-0 0, Darius Jackson 1 0 5-8 7, Dustin Linthicum 3 0 2-5 8, Tanner Willis 1 4 2-6 16, Chris Nichols 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-36 18-33 62. 3-point goals: 6-12. Rebounds: 6-19=25 (Jackson 7, Linthicum 6). Assists: 9 (Jackson 4, Holsinger 3). Steals: 5 (Jackson 4). Turnovers: 23. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.