Ironton shakes off slow start to get past Pointers

IRONTON — Ironton’s linescore on Friday was: 8  13  22  22. But in layman’s terms, it was: that was ugly,  not much better, OK now we’re cooking, feeling much better.

Ironton shook off a sluggish first half and put together a strong second half to beat the South Point Pointers 65-32 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

“It was a horrible first half for us. They did a good job of trying to take us out, slowing us down a bit,” said Ironton coach Drew Stevens.

“They were missing shots. We were missing shots. It was like no one was allowed to score. Those are the letdowns. We can’t have those. At halftime they had 12 turnovers and we were up six. We didn’t execute the first half.”

But they executed in the third quarter.

Ethan Hunt scored for South Point to start the second half only to have Maddix Markel hit a short jumper for Ironton. Hunt scored again and then Ironton took over.

Ashton Layne converted a 3-point play and added two more free throws for a 28-19 lead.

Brycen Mullins got hot and hit a couple of 3-pointers for a 34-23 lead and a layup by Layne made it 36-26 with 2:48 left in the quarter.

A free throw by the Pointers’ Landon Vance made it 36-27 but Layne had a layup, Mullins drilled another trifecta and Layne sank two free throws for a 43-27 lead at the end of the quarter.

“That’s how we have to play. We can’t have 8-point quarters. Teams are going to find a way to beat you if you do that.”

The Fighting Tigers limited South Point to just 5 points in the fourth quarter and the backups helped to continue building on the lead.

Ironton (13-2, 8-1) and South Point (4-11, 2-7) were tied at 8-all in the first quarter with Layne scoring 6 of Ironton’s points.

Stephen Ison hit a 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the first half that gave Ironton it’s first lead at 11-8. The Fighting Tigers never trailed after that but South Point got within 17-15 on a layup by Hunt with 1:44 to go in the half.

Layne sank two foul shots and Wyatt Wolfe scored on a layup at the buzzer for a 21-15 lead.

Layne finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds to pace Ironton. Mullins had 12 points on four 3-pointers and Markel added 10 points.

Hunt scored 11 to lead the Pointers.

South Point 8     7   12     5  =  32

Ironton 8   13   22   22  =  65

SOUTH POINT (4-11, 2-7): James Carey 1 0 0-0 2, Ethan Hunt 4 0 3-4 11, Hunter Chinn 1 0 0-0 2, Scheyer Graham 0 1 0-0 3, Landon Vance 1 0 3-6 5, Robert Napier 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Fitzpatrick 1 0 0-0 2, Caesyn Pope 2 0 2-2 6, Keondre Garred 0 0 1-2 1, Octavius Bacon 0 0 0-0 0, Marcus Hanshaw 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 1 9-14 32. Fouls: 14, Fouled out: None,

IRONTON (13-2, 8-1): Wyatt Wolfe 2 0 1-2 5, Maddix Markel 4 0 2-2 10, Carson Blankenship 0 1 0-0 3, Braydon Baker 0 0 0-0 0, Ashton Layne 7 0 7-7 21, Brycen Mullins 0 4 0-0 12, Tyson Harvey 0 0 0-0 0, Carson Freeman 0 0 0-0 0, Kayden Edwards 0 0 0-0 0, Brian Kidd 0 0 0-0 0, Braiden Linn 0 0 0-0 0, Stephen Ison 0 2 0-0 6, Zayne Williams 3 0 1-2 7, Jase Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Dawson “The Big Unit” Philyaw 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 7 12-15 65. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.