Defense generates key road win for Ironton

SOUTH POINT — If you want more offense, then get more defense.

The Ironton defense forced 22 turnovers that helped generate more offense as the Fighting Tigers beat the South Point Pointers 62-38 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Thursday.

“I said before the game that our defense will win us the basketball game,” said Stevens. “Twenty-two turnovers give us more possessions, allowed us to get out and run with our athletes and I think that’s when we’re at our best.”

The Pointers (1-2, 0-1) had early leads of 5-4 and 9-7, and the game was 7-7 after the first quarter.

But the full-court pressure of their defense helped the Fighting Tigers pull away to a 22-15 lead after layups by Zayne Williams and Kayden Edwards.

Ashton Layne followed up his own missed shot and it was 24-15 with less than a minute to play in the half.

Davon Lewis made a technical free throw with 41 seconds on the clock and Luke Fitzpatrick’s putback got the Pointers within 24-18 at the break.

Lewis had a layup to start the second half only to have Layne sink a pair of free throws and Edwards followed with a 3-point play and a putback and the lead was 31-20.

Ironton continued to pull away and Brycen Mullins hit a trifecrta before the end of the quarter to make the lead 44-26.

The Fighting Tigers outscored the Pointers 38-20 in the second half.

“That’s the great thing about having a big bench. Carson Freeman was phenomenal tonight,” said Stevens. “You look at the scorebook and you say maybe he didn’t score a lot of points, but he hit a big 3 that pushed us ahead early. Great defense.

“Zayne Williams is a spark off the bench for us. To have a guy who is 5-9 come in and he plays 6-5. The effort and attitude we’re playing with I’m just so proud of.”

Layne led all scorers with 21 points with Mullins adding 11 as 8 different players scored.

Lewis scored 12 points for South Point including 8 of 12 from the foul line.

Ironton        7   17   20   18  =  62

South Point 7   11     8   12  =  38

IRONTON (2-0, 1-0): Wyatt Wolfe 0 0 0-0 0, Maddix Markel 2 1 0-0 7, Carson Blankenship 0 1 0-0 3, Braydon Baker 0 0 0-0 0, Ashton Layne 7 1 4-6 21, Brycen Mullin 2 2 1-2 11, Carson Freeman 0 1 0-0 3, Kayden Edwards 3 0 2-3 8, Brian “Bubby” Kidd 0 0 0-0 0, Stephen Ison 0 0 0-0 0, Zayne Williams 3 0 1-2 7, Dawson Philyaw 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 18 6 8-15 62. Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

SOUTH POINT (1-2, 0-1): James Carey 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Hunt 1 0 1-2 3, Davon Lewis 2 0 8-12 12, Luke Fitzpatrick 2 0 2-2 6, Octavius Bacon 0 0 0-0 0, Keondre Garred 4 0 0-0 8, Caesyn Pope 1 1 0-0 5, Jay Marcum 2 0 0-0 4, Hunter Chinn 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 1 11-16 38. Turnovers 22. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Carey.