By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

PROCTORVILLE — With two big men missing, the other big man stepped up big.

And the little man wasn’t bad, either.

With Trey Fletcher and Dion Brown out with injuries, 6-foot-4 Trevor White scored a career-high 19 points and 5-8 Zac Carter followed up a 41-point performance on Tuesday with 36 more as the Ironton Fighting Tigers beat the Fairland Dragons 69-58 on Friday.

“Everyone played hard and executed. I’m proud of them. They played so hard,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.

“Trevor did an excellent job. He never let anything shake him. They were beating on him early and he didn’t let it bother him. He just kept getting higher and higher as the game went on.”

White also had 14 rebounds as Ironton held a 35-26 advantage on the glass. Nolan Johnson pulled down 6 rebounds and Aaron Stephens had 5.

Blaine Fuller and Evan Salyers scored 14 points each and Evan Maddox 13 to lead the Dragons (15-5). Eric Riley grabbed 9 rebounds and Maddox had 7 rebounds along with 4 assists.

“We couldn’t stop Carter. He was on fire,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.

“We didn’t shoot great but a lot of that had to do with their defense. They went zone and we didn’t adjust to it. That changed the pace of the game. We stood around.”

The lead changed hands six times in the first quarter with Carter’s 17-footer giving Ironton an 11-10 lead. White’s put-back made it 13-10 and Fuller’s layup had Fairland down 13-12 at the end of the quarter.

Ironton went on a 10-1 run to start the second quarter — Carter had 8 points in the surge — and the Fighting Tigers had their biggest lead of the half at 23-13.

Maddox scored 5 straight points including a 3-point play and the Dragons were down 23-18.

Carter came back with two foul shots and White followed up a missed shot to make it 27-18. Nathan Campbell’s free throw and a put-back by Fuller just before the buzzer cut Ironton’s lead to 27-21 at the break.

Joe Bowling’s trey gave Ironton a 38-27 lead and Carter took over with a 3-point play and then drained a pair of trifectas — the second at with seven seconds on the clock to open up a 47-35 lead.

Carter hit two foul shots and White a layup for a 16-point lead to begin the fourth quarter. Maddox hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key but Josh Glover’s layup off a feed from Tanner Dutey, two technical foul shots by Carter and a layup by White opened up a 57-38 lead.

Salyers scored 4 points to make it 60-46 with four minutes lead, but a free throw by White and a layup by Johnson gave Ironton a 67-49 cushion and the backups finished up.

“They played with a lot of poise and composure,” said LaFon. “To watch them step up and play like Fighting Tigers, I was proud of them.”

Up next are the sectional tournaments. Ironton plays at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Jackson against the Oak Hill-Portsmouth West winner while Fairland meets Hillsboro at 6 p.m. Friday at Southeastern High School.

 

Ironton 13 14 20 20 = 69

Fairland 12 9 14 23 = 58

IRONTON (15-5): Zac Carter 9 3 9-9 36, Trevor White 8 3-4 19, Josh Glover 2 0 1-4 5, Nolan Johnson 2 0 0-0 4, Aaron Stephens 0 0 0-0 0, Joe Bowling 0 1 0-0 3, Tanner Dutey 0 0 2-2 2, Darrius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0, Nate Garred 0 0 0-0 0, Sean Lawless 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-47 15-20 69. 3-point goals: 4-6. Rebounds: 10-25=35 (White 14, Johnson 6, Stephens 5). Assists: 12 (Glove 3, Carter 3). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Glover (4th 3:41, Bowling 4th 1:14).

FAIRLAND (15-5): Eric Riley 2 0 3-4 7, Evan Maddox 3 1 4-6 13, Blaine Fuller 5 1 1-4 14, Evan Salyers 4 0 6-8 14, Nathan Campbell 0 1 0-0 3, Ryan Wooten 0 0 0-0 0, Cody Midkiff 0 0 0-0 0, Alec Warner 0 1 1-2 4, Josh Goodman 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19-61 16-28 58. 3-point goals: 4-21. Rebounds: 15-11=26 (Riley 9, Maddox 7). Assists: 10 (Maddox 40. Steals: 4 (Riley 2). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.