By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

As Rocky said to his wife Adrian at the end of his rematch win against Apollo Creed, “I did it!”

The Ironton Fighting Tigers knew what they had to do to beat the Gallipolis Blue Devils on Tuesday and they did just that.

The Fighting Tigers used a strong defense and got some clutch foul shooting from Landen Wilson to get a key 67-59 Ohio Valley Conference win.

“At halftime we said we did everything we wanted to do except we missed layups,” said Ironton coach Chris Barnes. “We missed seven layups in the first half. If we make five of those instead of being up three we’d be up 13.

“In the second half, we made a push at the end and then we missed some double bonus and some free throws. But we hung on and we did what we had to do. To get two wins on them this year is  big. They’re a good team.”

Wilson finished with a game-high 23 points and was 8-of-8 at the foul line including 6 free throws over the final minute of the game with Ironton leading just 61-57.

Shaun Terry had 19 points and Braden Schreck 15 points — all in the second half — while Tyler Roach came off the bench to scored 5 points in the fourth quarter including a 3-pointer for Ironton (7-4, 5-2).

“Landen and Shaun did a great job defensively and we got some big minutes off the bench from Roach. We need some of the young guys to step up and give as some depth,” said Barnes.

Brody Fellure led Gallipolis with 20 points while 6-foot-8 Isaac Clary — a Marshall football recruit — had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

“We honestly can’t do much better than that (on Clary). I thought we did a great job on him the last time and he had 18,” said Barnes.

The game was close from start to finish. Gallipolis led 14-12 after the first quarter, Ironton was up 25-22 at the half and 40-36 after three quarters.

Gallipolis’ biggest lead was 3 points while Ironton led by 4 points in the first half, 6 in the third quarter and then going ahead 58-46 with just under three minutes in the fourth quarter after a layup by Schreck.

But a layup and then steal that led to a 3-point play by Fellure got Gallipolis within 61-57 with 1:07 to play.

That’s when Wilson stepped up and scored the final 6 Ironton points from the free throw line as the Blue Devils were forced foul.

Gallipolis    14 8 14 23 = 59

Ironton     12 13 15 27 = 67

GALLIPOLIS (11-5, 5-4): Jance Lambert 2 1 0-0 7, Wesley Saunders 0 1 0-0 3, Brody Fellure 8 0 4-5 20, Kenyon Franklin 0 2 1-2 7, Isaac Clary 6 0 2-3 14, Carson Wamsley 2 1 0-0 7, Joey Darnbrough 0 0 0-0 0, Blake Caldwell 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23-54 8-13 59. 3-pt goals: 5-21. Rebounds: 12-O, 26-D = 38 (Clary 14, Franklin 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 7. Assists: 11. Steals: 2. Blocks: 4. Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Saunders.

IRONTON (7-4, 5-2): Lincoln Barnes 1 0 0-2 2, Shaun Terry 5 2 3-4 19, Landen Wilson 6 1 8-8 23, Braden Schreck 7 0 1-5 15, Ethan White 0 1 0-0 3, Amari Felder 0 0 0-0 0, Tayden Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Roach 1 1 0-0 5. Totals: 25-61 12-19 67. 3-pt goals: 5-21. Rebound: 10-O, 18-D = 28 (Schreck 6, White 5, Wilson 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 18 (Wilson 5, Terry 5, Schreck 5). Steals: 13 (White 5, Wilson 4). Blocks: 1 (Carpenter). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.