Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — Clayton Thomas was in “The Zone.”
Thomas hit 7-of-13 from behind the 3-point arc and went 4-for-4 from 2-point range as he scored 29 points to lead the Fairland Dragons to a 72-42 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Portsmouth Trojans on Tuesday.
Thomas also had 7 assists as Fairland improved to 5-0 and 3-0 in the OVC.
Aiden Porter had a big game with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Jordan Williams added 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Portsmouth (2-3, 0-3) was led by Matt Fraulini with 9 points. Miles Shipp had 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Portsmouth took a 2-0 lead on a basket by Shipp just four seconds into the game.
But sparked by two 3-pointers by Thomas and one by Porter, the Dragons went on a 20-4 run and it was 20-6 with 1:45 left in the first quarter.
Shipp had two baskets to close out the quarter and it was 20-10.
Thomas hit a 3-pointer to begin the second quarter but Fraulini answered for the Trojans as he hit a basket and seconds later added a foul shot.
Thomas hit another trey only to have Jack Workman scored to get the Trojans within 26-15.
It was Thomas hitting back-to-back triples and then a 2-pointer as Fairland opened up a 33-15 lead with 3:28 left in the half.
Jordan Williams scored to give Fairland a 41-22 lead before Portsmouth’s Amare Johnson scored just before the half to make it 41-24.
Third quarter scoring slowed down with Fairland extending its lead to 52-33 and then the Dragons used three baskets by Porter to go up 58-35 with 6:42 to play.
Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 2:02 left to make it 72-42 and neither team scored the rest of the game.
Fairland visits Huntington (W.Va.) on Thursday.
Fairland 20 21 11 20 = 72
Portsmouth 10 14 9 9 = 42
FAIRLAND (5-0, 3-0): Jacob Polcyn 1-6 0-0 0-0 2, Aiden Porter 7-10 1-7 2-2 19, Gavin Hunt 3-5 0-0 1-1 7, Clayton Thomas 4-4 7-13 0-0 29, Jordan Williams 6-10 0-0 0-0 12, Zander Schmidt 0-0 1-4 0-0 3, Tevin Taylor 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Mason Manns 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Thacker 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Mayo 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-62 3-3 72. 3-pt goals: 9-25. Rebounds: 19-O, 16-D = 35 (Porter 8, Polcyn 7, Williams 7). Assists: 17 (Thomas 7, Porter 6). Steals: 6 (Hunt 2, Thomas 2). Blocks 4 (Williams 3). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
PORTSMOUTH (2-3, 0-3): Amare Johnson 2-4 0-1 1-3 5, Matt Fraulini 1-2 2-5 1-1 9, Dairyonne Bryant 2-5 0-1 1-2 5, Jack Workman 3-3 0-2 0-0 6, Daewin Spence 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Jesse Dixon 1-4 0-1 0-0 2, Michael Duncan 0-1 0-0 0-1 0, Miles Shipp 3-6 0-0 0-0 6, Chris Duff 0-0 1-2 0-0 3, Jay-ind Thomas 3-4 0-1 0-0 6, Trevor Pope 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-43 3-7 42. 3-pt goals: 4-13. Rebounds: 6-O, 13-D= 19 (Shipp 7, Dixon 5). Assists: 10 (Workman 3, Fraulini 2). Steals: 0. Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.