Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Getting beat on the boards will just plain get you beat.

Eastern Brown dominated the rebounding 39-20 and as a result held off the Ironton Fighting Tigers’ late rally to post a 54-42 win Saturday.

Ironton coach Mark LaFon said the rebounding problem was two-fold.

“When Lucas (Campbell) and Desmond (Young) play half the game or less than half the game, there’s half your problem. They need to play smarter and that will come with experience,” said LaFon.

“But we need to screen the boards better. A lot of our problem was just not keeping them off the boards.”

Eastern used its inside game to prevent any Ironton comeback. Nathan Scott had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Riley Prine 9 points and 10 rebounds

Jonathan Stivers added 13 points as Eastern remained unbeaten in five games.

Tristan Cox scored 15 points and Phillip Kratzenberg had 10 points to lead Ironton (0-3) who was playing without starting guard Joe Bowling who suffered a broken hand in practice earlier in the week.

Despite the loss, LaFon saw improvement.

“We’re better today than we were the first game of the season. We need to get better faster. The problem is, everyone we play is undefeated,” said LaFon.

The Warriors took their biggest lead of the game at 44-26 when Jonathan Stivers banked in a 3-poingter and it was 45-28 on a foul shot by Scott with 5:37 to play.

But Ironton began chipping away.

Three free throws by Kratzenberg, one by Isaac Sherman and a layup by Cox cut the deficit to 47-36 with four minutes left.

Kratzenberg then made two free throws and a layup and the Fighting Tigers were within 50-42 with 1:41 left.

But Eastern converted 4-of-8 free throws the rest of the game and Ironton could get no closer.

“We played well until we hit a point when we had to make the play that gets us over the hump. We’ll learn to do that,” said LaFon.

A layup by Isaac Sherman with 1:03 to play in the first quarter gave Ironton its only lead at 6-4.

The game was tied twice in the second quarter before Eastern pushed ahead 22-14 at the break.

A steal and layup by Nate Garred had Ironton down 22-17 to begin the second half and a trifecta by Cox at the 3:06 mark left the Fighting Tigers trailing 28-22.

But Scott made a layup and Curtis Burns came up with a quick steal and layup to stretch the margin to 32-22. An 18-footer by Scott gave the Warriors a 39-24 lead at the end of the quarter.

Ironton plays at unbeaten Fairland Tuesday.

Eastern 4 18 17 15 = 54

Ironton 6 8 10 18 = 42

EASTERN BROWN (5-0): Curtis Burns 1 0 0-0 2, Marcus Day 0 2 1-2 7, Nathan Scott 7 0 5-6 19, Jonathan Stivers 1 2 5-9 13, Riley Prine 4 0 1-3 9, Mickey Hundley 0 0 0-0 0, Layne Pickerill 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Doss 0 0 2-2 2, Grant McIntosh 1 0 0-0 2, Brandon Covert 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-41 14-22 54. 3-point goals: 4-15. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 15-OR, 23-DR = 38 (Scott 12, Prine 10). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 3. Steals: 9 (Burns 2, Scott 2). Turnovers: 18.

IRONTON (0-3): Tristan Cox 2 2 5-10 15, Nate Garred 2 0 1-2 5, Phillip Kratzenberg 1 1 5-5 10, Desmond Young 0 0 0-1 0, Lucas Campbell 1 0 0-0 2, Richard Crockrel 2 0 1-2 5, Isaac Sherman 2 0 1-4 5, Charles Scott 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-36 13-24 42. 3-point goals: 3-12. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Campbell (4th 2:54). Rebounds: 7-OR, 13-DR = 20 (Sherman 4, Cox 3). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 5 (Cox 2, Kratzenberg 2). Steals: 6 (Kratzenberg 2). Turnovers: 13.