Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

There were highs and lows for the Ironton Fighting Tigers.
Fortunately, one of the highs came from Reid Carrico.
Ironton had its best performance of the season at the foul line by converting 19-of-24 free throws but was guilty of a season-high 26 turnovers.
Carrico helped ease the lows as he scored 22 points and hauled down 16 rebounds to help the Fighting Tigers pull away late for a 69-62 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Chesapeake Panthers on Tuesday.
Charlie Large added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Ironton and Ethan Wilson finished with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals.
Ironton won its sixth straight and is now 8-3 and tied for first in the OVC at 3-1.
Chesapeake (7-3, 2-2) was led by Eli Archer with 17 points and seven rebounds while Levi Blankenship and Tylan Hutchison scored 11 points each.
The Panthers shot only 38 percent from the floor (22-of-58) and made just 14-of-22 foul shots.
Hutchison had eight points but a putback by Wilson gave Ironton a 13-10 lead.
Travis Grim hit a 3-pointer to tie the game for the Panthers but Ironton’s Erickson Barnes drained a trifecta with 1:08 on the clock and it was 16-13 to end the quarter.
Archer scored four points to begin the second quarter and give Chesapeake its only lead of the game at 17-16.
A trey by Collin Freeman sent Ironton back on top before Nathan Cox hit a 12-footer to get the Panthers within 23-22.
A triple by Trent Milleson, a layup by Trent Hacker and a baseline shot by Large opened up a 30-22 lead for Ironton.
Cox hit an 18-footer in the closing seconds as the Panthers trailed 32-26 at the break.
Ironton opened up its biggest lead at 40-31 on back-to-back shots by Carrico. A putback by Large had the lead at 48-39 but a 3-pointer Blankenship got the Panthers within 49-47 at the end of the third quarter.
A layup by Cox tied the game to start the fourth quarter but a foul shot by Ethan Wilson and a driving layup by Barnes put Ironton back in front 52-49.
A putback by Trent Death tied the game at 52 but Carrico went 3-of-4 at the line to give Ironton the lead for good at 55-52.
Chesapeake was down 55-53 after a foul shot by Logan Walsh only to have Wilson sink two free throws, Carrico make a layup and Large hit back-to-back shots for a 63-53 lead with 1:47 to play.
On Friday, Ironton goes to South Point and Chesapeake visits Coal Grove.
Chesapeake 13 13 21 15 = 62
Ironton 16 16 17 20 = 69
CHESAPEAKE (7-3, 2-2): Logan Walsh 0 0 1-2 1, Levi Blankenship 0 3 2-2 11, Austin Jackson 3 0 1-2 7, Tylan Hutchison 4 0 3-6 11, Eli Archer 6 0 5-8 17, Travis Grim 1 1 0-0 5, Nathan Cox 3 00-0 6, Trent Dearth 1 0 2-2 4. Totals: 22-58 14-22 62. 3-pt goals: 4-20. Rebounds: 9-O, 17-D = 26 (Archer 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 6 (Walsh 2). Steals: 12 (Grim 4). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Hutchison (4th 0:31), Jackson (4th 0:05).
IRONTON (8-3, 3-1): Ethan Wilson 2 0 9-10 13, Jordan Grizzle 0 1 0-0 3, Reid Carrico 8 0 6-8 22, Charlie Large 5 0 4-4 14, Ayden Barnes 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter Humphreys 0 0 0-0 0, Trent Milleson 0 1 0-0 3, Collin Freeman 1 1 0-0 5, Erickson Barnes 1 1 0-2 5, Trent Hacker 1 0 0-0 2, Will York 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-52 19-24 69. 3-pt goals: 4-13. Rebounds: 14-O, 29-D = 43 (Carrico 16, Large 10). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 6 (Wilson 2, Large 2). Steals: 10 (Wilson 4). Turnovers: 26. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Large (4th 1:23).