The turnovers turned the tide.

Wednesday, January 09, 2002

The turnovers turned the tide. Ironton jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. But a avalanche of turnovers followed and the Fighting Tigers never recovered as they lost 64-33 to the Boyd County Lions Tuesday.

"We have to take care of the ball against pressure," Ironton coach Chris Barnes said. "We worked against Boyd County’s press all week. They really didn’t bother us as much as we hurt ourselves. We had a lot of unforced turnovers."

Ironton had 18 turnovers the first half. As a result, the Fighting Tigers got off just 16 field goal attempts and trailed 36-20 at the break.

Boyd County led 17-9 at the first quarter before going ahead 26-13. A 3-pointer by Drew Mains and a follow up shot by Derique Bacon got Ironton within 26-18 at the 3:12 mark. The Fighting Tigers never got any closer.

Troy Miller hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half for the Lions and Max Hunter’s layup extended the lead to 41-20.

The lead was 47-26 at the end of the third quarter as Ironton scored just six points in the quarter. In fact, Ironton scored single digits in three of the four quarters.

A 15-footer by Marcus Adams gave the Lions their biggest lead of the game at 64-30 with 2:16 left. Ironton’s Michael McGraw hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left set the final score.

Joe Howard had 18 points, five assists, and five steals to lead the Lions who are just 4-10 on the season. Miller finished with 17 points while Hunter had 14 points and six rebounds.

Bacon’s eight points topped Ironton, now 6-3. Tommy Lutz had eight rebounds.

The Fighting Tigers play at Portsmouth Friday.

Boyd Co. 17 19 11 17 – 64

Ironton 9 11 6 7 – 33

BOYD COUNTY (4-10): Joe Howard 8-13 (1-2) 1-3 18, Brent Shannon 1-1 (0-0) 1-1 3, Troy Miller 6-13 (3-5) 2-2 17, Brooke Williams 1-3 (0-0) 0-2 2, Max Hunter 7-11 (0-0) 0-2 14, Cody Sturgill 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Joe Zornes 2-4 (0-0) 0-0 4, J. K. Roberts 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Marcus Adams 3-3 (0-0) 0-0 6, Jake Hughes 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Ryan Meenach 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 28-51 (4-7) 4-11 64. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-14=21 (Hunter 6, Williams 5, Shannon 4). Assists: 10 (Howard 5, Williams 2). Steals: 13 (Howard 5, Hunter 4). Turnovers: 12.

IRONTON (6-3): Josh Sands 2-5 (1-2) 0-0 5, Andrew Harvey 0-2 (0-1) 0-0 0, Andy Brown 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0, Derique Bacon 4-6 (0-0) 0-0 8, Tommy Lutz 2-4 (0-0) 0-4 4, Drew Mains 1-4 (1-1) 2-2 5, Ben Murphy 3-4 (0-0) 0-0 6, Aaron Quinn 1-2 (0-1) 0-0 2, Craig Lewis 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0, Nick Collins 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Steve Elswick 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Michael McGraw 1-1 (1-1) 0-0 3. Totals: 14-33 (3-7) 2-6 33. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-18=24 (Lutz 8, Bacon 4). Assists: 6 (Mains 2, Quinn 2). Steals: 5 (Lutz 2). Turnovers: 26.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Boyd County 35, Ironton 32. Boyd County: Jake Hughes 10, Ryan Meenach 8. Ironton: Matt White 12, Chris Collins 8, Craig Lewis 8.