Tigers get offense going, score season-high in win over Redmen

IRONTON — There’s something about the Rock Hill Redmen that brings out the offense in the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Ironton scored 80 points in a win earlier this season against the Redmen and then the two teams were putting up the points again on Friday.

Ironton scored a season-high total as they topped the Redmen 84-70 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Ironton (16-2, 11-1) had four players in double figures led by Ashton Layne with 29 points. Brycen Mullins scored 14, Maddix Markel 11 and Kayden Edwards added 10.

Rock Hill (6-15, 2-11) also had four players in double digits as Jarrod Bridges scored 16, Rylan Barker and Carson Medinger 15 points each and Yaden Bailey was right behind with 14.

Rock Hill surprised Ironton by taking an 18-15 first quarter lead. The Redmen went ahead 9-4 on a 3-pointer by Kelan Davidson before Ironton came back to take a 13-9 lead on a layup by Layne and a putback by Edwards.

Bridges’ 3-point play tied the game at 15 and his 3-pointer at the buzzer put the Redmen ahead.

The Fighting Tigers’ offense erupted for 28 points in the second quarter to take a 43-30 halftime lead.

The game was tied at 22 when Edwards hit two foul shots to give Ironton the lead for good.

Layne sank a foul shot and Bridges made a layup and it was 25-24, but that was as close the Redmen got the rest of the game.

Markel and Carson Freeman hit 3-pointers to give Ironton a 38-26 lead and a layup by Layne pushed the lead to 43-28. Mayson Black scored for Rock Hill and it was 43-30 at the break.

Mullins had two free throws with 1:27 for a 61-40 lead and Markel’s layup made it 65-43 at the end of the quarter.

Freeman’s 3-pointer gave Ironton a 72-50 lead but Rock Hill began to chip away and a 3-pointer by Rylan Barker cut the deficit to 74-60 with 3:27 to play.

Ironton began to pull away as Stephen Ison hit a trey and Layne a layup to make it 81-60. Rock Hill closed the gap to end the game as Bailey and Medinger hit 3-pointers.

Ironton started five of its six seniors that included Dawson “Big Unit” Philyaw, Carson Blankenship, Maddix Markel, Carson Freeman, Braydon Baker and Zayne Williams.

“Those seniors have been with me since the seventh grade. They were my first team as a coach. They’ll always be special to me,” said Stevens.

Rock Hill 18 12 13 27 = 70

Ironton 15 28 22 19 = 84

ROCK HILL (6-15, 2-11): Cash Lyons 0 0 0-0 0, Jarrod Bridges 3 2 4-8 16, Rylan Barker 1 3 4-7 15, Mayson Black 1 0 2-4 4, Carson Medinger 5 0 5-6 15, Kelan Davidson 0 2 0-0 6, Yaden Bailey 4 2 0-0 14. Totals: 14 9 15-24 70. Foul 13. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (16-2, 11-1): Wyatt Wolfe 1 0 0-0 2, Maddix Markel 5 0 1-1 11, Carson Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Ashton Layne 11 0 7-9 29, Brycen Mullins 1 3 3-4 14, Carson Freeman 1 2 0-0 8, Kayden Edwards 4 0 2-2 10, Brian Kidd 0 0 0-0 0, Stephen Ison 0 2 1-2 7, Zayne Williams 0 1 0-0 3, Braydon Baker 0 0 0-0 0, Dawson “Big Unit” Philyaw 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 8 14-18 84. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Freeman (4th 2:38).