Ironton completes 4th quarter comeback on buzzer beater

GALLIPOLIS — What was an ugly performance turned out to have a beautiful ending.

For most of the game, Ironton was sluggish and didn’t shoot well. But the Fighting Tigers picked up their play late and Carson Freeman made everything beautiful at the end.

Trailing by as many as 13 points, Ironton rallied in the fourth quarter to get within two points and Freeman drained a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give the Fighting Tigers a thrilling 67-66 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Gallia Academy Blue Devils on Tuesday.

“I thought we played horrible. We played lazy, we were dead legged. We didn’t play great defense.

It’s a hard trip up here. They always play great. I knew it was going to be a battle after the way we played down at our place,” said Ironton coach Drew Stevens.

Then Stevens turned his attention to Freeman.

“I could not be happier for Carson Freeman. He struggled shooting at the beginning of the season. We struggled. We struggled with him. I told him in the locker room I was super proud of him, He saved us,” said Stevens.

Ironton didn’t take its first lead until 2:12 was left to play when Maddix Markel made a foul shot and it was 63-62.

A layup by Grant Owens and a free throw by Gabe Hammons put Gallia up 66-63 with 1:32 to play. Markel made another foul shot and Ironton got the ball back with just under 18 seconds to play.

The Fighting Tigers played for the game-tying shot but the ball went to Freeman along the 3-point line and he took the shot with only seconds remaining to give Ironton the win.

“We played horrible until the last four minutes,” said Stevens who alluded to the snowy and icy weather having an effect on his team’s play. “Having 18 days off killed us. We pulled one out, These guys fought for 32 minutes. I’m proud of them.”

The Blue Devils led 17-11 after the first quarter and 36-28 at the half. A 3-pointer by Ty Reed gave the Blue Devils  55-42 lead with 1:12 on the third quarter clock.

Down 56-47 after three quarters Ironton got a 3-point play from Ashton Layne and two foul shots from Markel to tie the game at 60 with 2:47 to play and set the stage for the thrilling finish.

Layne led Ironton with 20 points. Kayden Edwards had a season-high 12 points with Brycen Mullins and Markel getting 10 points each and Freeman a season-high 8 points.

Reed scored a game-high 25 for Gallia Academy. Owens scored 19 and Hammons had 14 in the upset bid,

The win made the Fighting Tigers 14-2 overall and they kept pace with Chesapeake in the OVC race at 8-1. Gallia fell to 10-9 and 5-6 in the OVC.

Ironton 11 17 19 20 = 67

Gallia Acad. 17 19 20 10 = 66

IRONTON (14-2, 9-1): Wyatt Wolfe 0 0 0-0 0, Maddix Markel 3 0. 4-6 10, Ashton Layne 9 0 2-3 20, Brycen Mullins 0 3 1-2 10, Carson Freeman 1 2 0-0 8, Kayden Edwards 6 0 0-312, Stephen Ison 2 1 0-0 7. Totals: 21 6 7-13 67. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Edwards (1:32 4th).

GALLIA ACADEMY (10-9, 5-6): Ty Reed 8 1 4-7 25, Tripp Sola 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Rose 0 0 0-0 0, Alex Blair 0 0 0-0 0, Gabe Hammons 7 0 0-3 14, Grant Owens 6 2 1-2 19, Macen Meadows 2 1 0-0 7, Colson Miller 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 5 5-12 66. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None