Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Hard work doesn’t guarantee anything, but the lack of it does.
Just ask the Ironton Fighting Tigers.
Ironton pressed and played hard from the opening tip to the final buzzer in a 54-41 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Coal Grove Hornets on Friday.
Ironton coach Mark LaFon said there was no real strategy. He had just one rule: play hard.
“They played hard and that’s what we have to do,” said LaFon.
“If playing hard means making mistakes, we’re going to play hard for 32 minutes and we didn’t the last game. I didn’t care if we were down 30, we were going to play hard. We’re going to play the guys who are going to play hard.”
Kyle Adkins played hard coming off the bench as he scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Ethan Wilson finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for Ironton (8-5, 4-3).
Jeb Jones scored 15 points — 11 in the second half — and Aaron Music had 10 to lead the Hornets (6-6, 2-4).
Adkins hit his first five shots and was 6-of-7 from the field in the first half including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.
Adkins hit a triple to put Ironton up 5-2 and the Fighting Tigers held the lead the rest of the half.
Adkins and Ryan Payne hit back-to-back trifectas for a 13-6 lead but Mark Sites and Music made baskets fro the Hornets who trailed 13-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Jaylon McKenzie’s layup to start the second quarter got the Hornets within one point. Adkins then made two straight shots for a 17-12 lead.
Kyle Sites’ 3-pointer cut Ironton’s lead to 20-17 but Wilson hit a 15-footer and Adkins another triple. Jones scored for the Hornets but Wilson’s put-back before the buzzer made it 27-19 at the break.
Jones scored four points to begin the second half to get Coal Grove within 29-23, but layups by Ryan Bryant and Adkins pushed Ironton up 33-23 with 5:25 on the clock.
Wilson and Bryant hit layups to end the quarter and Ironto was up 39-27.
Adkins converted a three-point play with 3:47 to play that gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game at 47-31.
Daniel Rutherford scored four points to cut the spread to 47-35 but Wilson connected on four straight foul shots and it was 51-35 with less than two minutes to play.
Ironton entered the game missing starter Raphael Glover due to illness and Charlie Large who is out for the year with a dislocated ankle.
On Tuesday, Ironton visits Portsmouth and Coal Grove hosts South Point.
Coal Grove    10    9    8    14    =    41
Ironton       13    14    12    15    =    54
COAL GROVE (6-6, 2-4): Aaron Music 5 0 0-0 10, Jordan Case 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Rutherford 1 0 2-4 4, Mark Sites 1 0 0-0 2, Jeb Jones 4 1 4-6 15, Alijah Roman 1 1 0-0 5, Kyle Sites 0 1 0-0 3, Jaylen McKenzie 1 0 0-0 2, Nate Harmon 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-47 6-10 41. 3-point goals: 3-11. Rebounds: 11-O, 15-D = 26 (Rutherford 6, Music 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 2. Steals: 8 (Rutherford 3, Jones 2). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: McKenzie (4th 1:05), Music (4th 0L35).
IRONTON (8-5, 4-3): Ethan Wilson 4 0 5-6 13, Joel Blankenship 1 0 0-0 2, Andrew Scott 3 0 0-1 6, Jourdyn Barrow 0 0 0-4 0, Hunter Humphreys 1 0 0-0 2, Kyle Adkins 6 3 3-5 24, Ryan Bryant 2 0 0-2 4, Ryan Payne 0 1 0-0 3, Trent Milleson 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Grizzle 0 0 0-0 0, Collin Freeman 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-40 8-18 54. 3-point goals: 4-9. Rebounds: 7-O, 20-D = 27 (Wilson 7, Barrow 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 6 (Wilson 3). Steals: 8 (Wilson 2, Blankenship 2, Scott 2). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.