The Portsmouth Trojans made their point.

Monday, February 04, 2002

The Portsmouth Trojans made their point. Or in this case, points.

Conversely, the Ironton Fighting Tigers had trouble making a better case for a win as they lost 64-47 to the Trojans Friday night.

Ironton (8-8) was just 18 of 42 from the field for 42.9 percent. Portsmouth took 56 shots and hit 27 for 48.2 percent.

"My biggest concern coming into the game was offense," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "We did better offensively than the last time we played them, but scoring 47 points is not going to be enough against a quality team."

Portsmouth center R. K. Thurman had 16 points and 15 rebounds. Guards Ash Greene and Jo Jo Parker scored 10 each as the Trojan guards outscored Ironton’s guards 23-to-6.

Ironton was led by center Tommy Lutz with 16 points and four rebounds. Derique Bacon added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Fighting Tigers leading scorer Josh Sands did not play due to an illness. Barnes said Sands’ absence was very noticeable.

"We didn’t get may points from our guards. We missed Josh. He’s capable of getting 20 to 25 points," said Barnes. "You hold Portsmouth to 33 points the first half, you should be in pretty good shape. But we had only 19."

Ironton took a 6-2 lead early and led 11-10 on a short jumper by Bacon with 2:35 on the clock. Portsmouth then scored six unanswered points to close the quarter and it was 16-11.

A 15-footer by Greene extended Portsmouth lead to 29-13 at the 3:13 mark. A short jumper by Aaron Quinn, a layup by Lutz and free throw by Bacon cut the deficit to 29-18 with 1:26 left in the half, but Green’s 15-footer with three seconds left in the half put the lead at 33-19.

Two foul shots by Parker with 3:04 left in the third quarter put Portsmouth up 50-24. Lutz hit three straight shots inside to make it 50-30 before Thurman’s 8-footer set the lead at 52-30 to end the quarter.

Portsmouth led by as many as 23 points the fourth quarter before Ironton got within 17 points on two occasions including Matt White’s 12-footer to set the final score.

Portsmouth 16 17 19 12 – 64

Ironton 11 8 11 17 – 47

PORTSMOUTH (12-3): Bradley Parker 2-7 (0-0) 2-2 6, Gerald Froe 3-8 (1-3) 0-0 7, Antonio Malone 4-8 (0-0) 1-2 9, Ash Greene 5-11 (0-1) 0-0 10, R. K. Thurman 6-8 (0-0) 4-4 16, Jo Jo Parker 4-5 (0-1) 2-2 10, Jeremiah Bolden 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brice Kearns 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Devon Deplain 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Bobby Waughtel 1-3 (0-1) 0-0 2, Aaron Smith 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tyler Clifford 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 27-56 (1-6) 9-10 64. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-16=28 (Thurman 15). Assists: 11 (Froe 3, B. Parker 2, Malone 2). Steals: 9 (J. Parker 3, Thurman 2, B. Parker 2, Froe 2). Turnovers: 9. Team/deadball rebounds: 2. FG% – 48.2. FT% – 90.0. 3pt% – 16.7.

IRONTON (8-8): Aaron Quinn 2-4 (1-2) 1-2 6, Andrew Harvey 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Drew Mains 0-7 (0-4) 0-0 0, Derique Bacon 4-9 (0-0) 6-8 14, Tommy Lutz 8-12 (0-0) 0-3 16, Ben Murphy 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Craig Lewis 1-3 (0-1) 1-2 3, Andy Brown 1-3 (1-1) 0-0 3, Kevin Williams 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Matt White 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Nick Collins 1-1 (1-1) 0-0 3, Michael McGraw 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 18-42 (3-10) 8-15 47. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 8-15=23 (Bacon 7, Lutz 4). Assists: 11 (Mains 3, Harvey 2, Quinn 2). Steals: 5 (Quinn 2). Turnovers: 17. Team/deadball rebounds: 5. FG% – 42.9. FT% – 53.3. 3pt% – 30.0.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Ironton 54, Portsmouth 38. Ironton: A. J. McKnight 11, Craig Lewis 9, Ben Murphy 8. Portsmouth: Bobby Waughtel 12, Jeffrey Pendleton 9.