jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Ironton coach Chris Barnes warned his team that the Fairview Eagles could score a lot of points. He should have given the same warning about his team to Fairview.

Led by Braden Schreck’s career-high 37 points, Ironton outscored the Eagles 95-69 on Saturday in the Fighting Tigers’ season opener.

“That was a tough first game. Fairview can score. I told them Day and Smith are super dangerous. Smith was averaging eight 3-pointers a game. You don’t hit eight 3s by accident,” said coach Barnes.

Besides Schreck, Tyler Roach was 8-of-8 from the field including a 3-pointer as he scored 17 points while Bailey Thacker scored 13 points. Thacker also had 8 rebounds with Schreck getting 7 rebounds and he handed out 9 assists.

“Braden went off and really came out strong,” said coach Barnes. “Roach did not miss a shot and had a great game off the bench. Bailey had a very good first game. If not for his foul trouble, he would have scored 20. But we had a good effort from our entire bench.”

Steve Day led Fairview with 27 points while Tamel Smith scored 18.

Ironton took a 12-5 lead with 4:52 left in the first quarter as Schreck scored all 12 points.

Fairview (3-4) Took a 15-14 lead after Smith hit a 3-pointer and Day sank a 15-footer. A basket by Keyonte Spates-Olds scored to put the Eagles up for the last time at 17-16.

Ironton then finished the quarter on an 8-4 run to lead 24-20.

Schreck hit a 17-footer, converted a 3-point play and Roach made a layup off a nice pass from Judah Barnes and the lead was 31-20. Jace Manning hit a 3-pointer but Roach scored and Ironton led 31-23.

Manning hit a pair of treys that made it 31-all with 3:54 left in the quarter.

But a 3-pointer by Quentin Rodehaver, 3 foul shots by Schreck and a layup by Roach opened up a 47-37 halftime lead.

Thacker scored 9 points to start the third quarter and back-to-back layups by Braylon Sturgill and Schrek gave Ironton a 58-40 lead. Schreck’s layup just before the buzzer had Ironton up 68-52.

A layup by Schreck used the Ironton lead to 80-54 and Fairview could never get closer than 22 points.

“The second half we kind of wore them down and got better defensively. I liked the way we responded. I thank goodness we had some scrimmages against some good guards at Minford and South Webster so we knew what we were going to see,” said coach Barnes.

“It comes down to defense. Every time we got a stop we got a layup on the other end.”

Ironton will host Chesapeake on Tuesday.

“This was a good test for us because we have six games in 13 days against some very good teams,” said coach Barnes.

Ironton starting guard Shaun Terry did not play due to an injury but is expected to be back next week.

Fairview    20 17 15 17 = 69

Ironton     24 23 21 27 = 95

FAIRVIEW (3-4): Steven Day 6 4 3-4 27, Tamel Smith 3 2 6-7 18, Aiden Dailey 1 0 0-0 2, Roman Mayes 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Pack 3 0 1`-3 7, Logan McCormick 0 0 0-0 0, Trevor Pauley 0 0 0-0 0, Kevonte Spates-Olds 1 0 0-1 2, Jace Manning 0 3 0-0 9, Braiden Hamilton 1 0 0-0 2, Eli Shope 1 0 0-2 2, Tamel Smith 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-55 10-17 69. 3-pt goals: 9-25. Rebounds: O-3, D-15 = 18. Assists: 9. Steals: 2. Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (1-0): Bailey Thacker 6 0 1-2 13, Bryce Markins 2 1 0-0 7, Markel Cotton 2 0 0-0 4, Braylon Sturgill 2 0 0-0 4, Braden Schreck 15 1 4-7 37, Tyler Roach 7 1 0-0 17, Maddix Markel 3 0 0-0 6, Ashton Layne 2 0 0-0 4, Quentin Rodehaver 0 1 0-0 3, Judah Barnes 0 0 0-0 0, Noah Patterson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 43-69 5-9 95. 3-pt goals: 4-12. Rebounds: O-7, D-23 = 30 (Thacker 8, Schreck 7, Layne 5). Assists: 17 (Schreck 9, Barnes 4). Steals: 8 (Thacker 2, Barnes 2). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None.