By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

WAVERLY — Playing together is keeping the Ironton Fighting Tigers together.

Ironton’s team play has led to playing under pressure and the result was a 44-42 win over the Waverly Tigers on Tuesday.

“We talked about role players doing their job. When they do, teams can’t double on Trey or Zac,” said Ironton coach Mark LaFon. “It wasn’t pretty, but we played real hard and we played together. It was another game when composure was important.”

Zac Carter had 20 points and Trey Fletcher had 10 points — all in the second half — along with 8 rebounds as Ironton improved to 3-0. Aaron Stephens and Carter had 6 rebounds each.

Jake Kretzer had a game-high 22 points for Waverly (2-1).

Ironton was 17 of 36 from the field for 47 percent but just 7 of 18 free throws including 2 of 7 in the fourth quarter.

“We did everything we could to try and give this one away, but we were able to hang on. Stephens had a breakout game. We put him on Kretzer and that got him going,” said LaFon.

“Josh Glover did a good job on their point guard. They couldn’t get the ball to Kretzer where they wanted him to get the ball. We did a pretty good job. He’s a Division I player going to Akron.”

The first half ran at a slow scoring pace. Ironton held the biggest lead of the half at 10-4 with 4:23 in the first quarter thanks to back-to-back trifectas by Carter.

But Kretzer scored 9 points in the first quarter including a 3-pointer and then a steal and layup to tie the game at 12-12.

Carter followed up his own missed shot with three seconds left to put Ironton up 14-12.

Each team scored 6 points in the second quarter and it was 20-18 at the break.

After Ironton took a 25-21 lead in the third quarter, Waverly rallied to go up 28-25 on a 3-point play by Phillip Hart and a dunk by Kretzer.

But Ironton used layups by Carter and Dion Brown and two foul shots by Fletcher to go up 31-30 at the end of the quarter.

Back-to-back baskets by Fletcher put Ironton up 35-32 early in the fourth quarter only to have Waverly rally to go up 36-35 on back-to-back baskets by Kretzer.

Carter hit a 15-footer and then buried a long 3-pointer to put Ironton up 40-36 with 4:02 left.

Waverly closed to within 42-40 when Kretzer hit the front end of a one-and-one with 1:19 left, but Carter hit two free throws for Ironton.

Kretzer had a dunk with 11 seconds left but he missed a 3-pointer with time running out and Taylor Ward got the rebound but couldn’t connect on a 15-footer just before the buzzer sounded.

Ironton hosts Huntington, W.Va., on Friday and plays St. Clairsville on Saturday at Ohio University.

Ironton 14 6 11 13 = 44

Waverly 12 6 12 12 = 42

IRONTON (3-0): Tanner Dutey 0 0 0-0 0, Zac Carter 4 3 3-6 20, Dion Brown 4 0 0-2 8, Trey Fletcher 4 0 2-4 10, Nolan Johnson 2 0 1-2 5, Josh Glover 0 0 0-2 0, Aaron Stephens 0 0 1-2 1, Darius Boykin 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-36 7-18 44. 3-point goals: 3-7. Rebounds: 12-18=30 (Fletcher 8, Stephens 6, Carter 6). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 10 (Dutey 5, Carter 3). Steals: 3 (Carter 2). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

WAVERLY (2-1): Jake Kretzer 6 3 1-2 22, Jean Paul White 0 1 2-2 5, Devin Kelly 1 1 0-0 5, Taylor Ward 0 0 0-1 0, Phillip Hart 1 0 1-1 3, Zack Corcoran 0 0 0-0 0, Sam Hensley 1 0 0-1 2, Brock Davis 1 0 2-2 4. Totals: 14-43 7-11 42. 3-point goals: 5-24. Rebounds: 10-9=19 (Kretzer 5, Ward 5). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 5 (White 3). Steals: 3 (Kretzer 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.