Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The statistics suggested Ironton dominated the game.

The score confirmed it.

The Ironton Fighting Tigers turned in a dominating performance as they beat the Portsmouth Trojans 86-52 on Tuesday.

Ironton limited Portsmouth to 37 percent shooting including 3 of 19 from behind the 3-point line. Inside, the Fighting Tigers dominated the boards with 46 rebounds to only 23 for Portsmouth.

Zac Carter — who had 16 points in a 53-51 win at Portsmouth earlier in the season — poured in 38 points with 25 coming in the first half.

Trevor White had a season-high 15 points and was the new cover poster for Windex as he cleaned the glass for 17 rebounds — 10 on the offensive end.

Trey Fletcher put up 14 points and pulled down 8 rebounds as Ironton improved to 11-2.

“(Rebound) starts when Trey decides he’s going to take control. If you double him, Trevor locks in and they’re hard to stop,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon.

But there were other contributions in all areas and that pleased LaFon.

“Everybody was involved. We challenged our guys. We talked about our role players not being role players but being players,” said LaFon.

“Every time we made a key defensive play is seemed Josh (Glover) hit some big baskets. I challenged Trey and he did a great job on the defensive side. And Zac had a really special game again.”

Jayllen Carter had 14 points and Sky Oliver scored 10 for the youthful Trojans (7-9).

Ironton lead 18-9 early on a layup by Glover only to have Oliver hits 3-pointer and it was 18-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Ironton began to assert its dominance in the second quarter. A 3-point play by Fletcher opened up a 33-20 lead at the 3:35 mark and Carter connected on his third trifecta of the quarter just before the end of the half and it was 41-26 at the break.

Carter scored 11 points in the third quarter. He hit a trey and a 17-footer as the lead ballooned to 58-33. Glover’s steal and layup extended the lead to 62-37 at the end of the quarter.

Jayllen Carter’s 3-point play got Portsmouth within 65-40, but Ironton went on an 11-0 run including a layup by Joe Bowling that gave the Fighting Tigers its largest lead of the game at 76-40.

Ironton will play Akron Buchtel at 5:30 p.m. Saturday as part of the Ironton Shootout that will lead into the Hall of Fame reception.

The Fairland and Ashland girls play at 2 p.m. followed by the Ironton and South Point girls at 3:45.

Portsmouth 12 14 11 15 = 52

Ironton 18 23 21 24 = 86

PORTSMOUTH (7-9): Sky Oliver 1 1 5-6 10, Isiah Lisath 0 0 0-0 0, Ky’re Allison 3 0 2-4 8, Levi Porter 0 1 0-0 3, Jayllen Carter 5 1 1-2 14, Khalil Lattimore 2 0 0-0 4, Alex Dickerson 2 0 1-1 5, Conner Lasswell 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Peano 2 0 0-0 4, Zach DeLotell 0 0 0-0 0, Arrick Montgomery 0 0 0-0 0, Alex Grashel 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter Gibson 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 20-54 9-13 52. 3-point goals: 3-19. Rebounds: 9-14=23 (Allison 4, Grashel 4). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 2. Steals: 5 (Carter 3). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Allison (4th 1:05).

IRONTON (11-2): Zac Carter 7 5 9-9 38, Josh Glover 3 0 1-2 7, Trevor White 6 0 3-5 15, Trey Fletcher 6 0 2-4 14, Darrius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron Stephens 0 0 0-0 0, Tristan Cox 0 0 -0 0, Joe Bowling 3 0 0-0 6, Jake Long 1 0 0-0 2, Isaac Sherman 1 0 0-0 2, Trevor Easterling 1 0 0-0 2, Nate Garred 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 33-68 15-20 86. 3-point goals: 5-11. Rebounds: 21-25=46 (White 17, Fletcher 8). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 8 (Carter 3). Steals: 5 (Carter 3). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.