Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The fight is there along with the desire and the aggressiveness. Now, all the Ironton Fighting Tigers need is some practice time.
Ironton battled the unbeaten Alexander Spartans from start to finish but 12 turnovers and some forced shots were hindrances in their efforts on Sunday as they lost 58-53.
“Even though we’re playing top competition, it’s work out the bugs time on our side. It’s like a scrimmage. We want to play better. These kids play hard. We’ll get there. It’s still early and we haven’t had a whole lot of gym time yet,” said Ironton coach P.J. Fitch.
Ironton (0-2) fell behind 9-0 to start the game with three quick turnovers that led to a pair of 3-pointers by Kyler D’Ausgustino and one by Kaleb Easley.
But Ironton showed its mental toughness and fought back.
Trent Milleson hit a 5-footer and Trent Hacker made a 3-pointer to tie the game at the start of the second quarter. The Spartans’ J.K. Kearns then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and a basket to give Alexander a 21-13 lead.
A putback by the Spartans’ Luke Chapman with three seconds left in the half made it 25-15 at the break.
A layup by D’Augustino gave the Spartans a 37-25 lead — their biggest of the game along with 39-27 — before Ironton closed to within 39-28 on a foul shot by Reid Carrico with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter.
Alexander (7-0) was up 44-32 on a foul shot by Easley that put the lead at 12 again, but Ironton cut the deficit to 46–40 on a steal by Gage Salyers and layup by Jordan Grizzle with 3:20 to play.
A 3-pointer by Milleson with 1:18 left cut the spread to 52-47 but the Spartans made 5-of-8 free throws to offset 3-pointers by Milleson and Salyers.
Salyers and Milleson had 15 points each while Carrico scored 12 and Hacker added 9.
D’Augustino led all scorers with 20 points with Kearns scoring 18 and Easley 16.
Alexander’s 6-foot-10 senior center Caleb Terry hurt his knee trying to block a shot with 4:21 left in the first quarter and did not return.
“They’re a solid team,” Fitch said of Alexander. “They’ve been hammering people. We caught a break with (Terry) going down, but they have some athletic wings so in terms of trying to get out of the hole we dug, they were actually a little more difficult to guard with the athletic kid they inserted into the post.”
Ironton host Gallipolis on Friday.
Alexander 13 12 14 19 = 58
Ironton 8 7 13 25 = 53
ALEXANDER (7-0): Lucas Markins 0 0 0-0 0, J.K. Kearns 3 3 3-4 18, Kaleb Easley 1 1 11-17 16, Trey Schaller 0 0 0-1 0, Kyler D’Augustino 4 1 6-8 20, Luke Chapman 2 0 0-2 4, Caleb Terry 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 6 20-32 58. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Chapman (4th 0:38).
IRONTON (0-2): Gage Salyers 1 3 4-6 15, Trent Hacker 1 2 1-2 9, Jordan Grizzle 1 0 0-0 2, Reid Carrico 3 0 6-12 12, Trent Milleson 1 4 1-2 15, Collin Freeman 0 0 0-0 0, Erickson Barnes 0 0 0-0 0, Brayden Easterling 0 0 0-0 0, Landen Wilson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 9 12-22 53. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Hacker (4th 0:58), Freeman (4th 0:32).