Ironton rallies back from slow start to reach regional finals

ATHENS — In the famous novel Tale of Two Cities, the book’s opening lines by the great writer Charles Dickens were, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

On Wednesday in the Division 5 regional semifinals at Ohio University’s Convocation Center, the Ironton Fighting Tigers wrote the script for Tale of Two Halves.

After trailing by as 12 points in the first half and losing at halftime, Ironton put together a strong second half and beat the Eastern Brown Warriors 55-41.

“It was a tale of two halves. We hit some big shots and we contested their shots. The last 16 minutes we wanted it more. They were going to keep fighting. We played about as bad as we could the first half and we were only down five,” said Ironton coach Drew Stevens.

With the win Ironton (23-2) will now face the West Muskingum Tornadoes (22-5) who beat St. Clairsville 59-57 in overtime on a last-second shot. Saturday’s regional title game is 5 p.m. at Ohio University with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

Ironton got a 3-pointer from Carson Freeman and a basket by Brycen Mullins to start the game and it was 5-2. Eastern then went on a 13-0 run to lead 15-5 at the end of the first quarter.

A follow-up shot by Chase Pinkerton put the lead at 17-5 to begin the second quarter. Ironton battled back to get within 21-16 on a 3-pointer by Mullins. Jaidon Florence hit two foul shots for the Warriors but Mullins drained another triple and it was 23-19.

A free throw by Braxton Vance put Eastern up 24-19 at the half.

The Warriors out-rebounded Ironton 13-7 in the first half but 6-foot-6 center Matthew Dick picked up his third foul to begin the second half and sat out almost the entire third quarter.

Stevens reminded his players about the proper rebounding techniques.

“We have a bad tendency to try and out-jump people instead and putting a body on somebody,” said Stevens. “That second half we got going. They started missing shots. That first half they didn’t miss many and it made us hard to play our game. Our defense in the second half had a lot to do with it. We made some adjustments at the half and Markel played better and Ashton (Layne) quit pressing.”

The relaxed Layne scored only 6 points in the first half but scored all 12 of Ironton’s points in the third quarter as the Fighting Tigers rallied to tie the game at 31-all.

Stephen Ison came off the bench in the fourth quarter to hit three big 3-pointers as Ironton outscored the Warriors 24-10.

Layne hit a foul shot as Ironton took its first lead since it was 5-2, but Dick’s layup put Eastern ahead 33-32 with 7:21 to play.

Ison then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Ironton was up 38-33 with 6:10 to play. Ison hit another triple to make it 41-37. Markel later scored from the baseline and sank two foul shots with 2:46 to play put the lead at 45-37.

The Fighting Tigers then converted 8-of-12 free throws over the final 2:02 to seal the outcome.

Ironton 5 14 12 24 = 55

E. Brown 15 9 7 10 = 41

IRONTON (23-2): Maddix Markel 3 0 6-9 10, Ashton Layne 9 0 1-5 19, Brycen Mullins 1 2 2-2 10, Carson Freeman 0 1 1-2 4, Kayden Edwards 0 0 0-2 0, Stephon Ison 1 3 1-2 12, Zayne Williams 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 6 11-22 55. Rebounds: (O-7, D-14) 21 (Markel 6, Edwards 6, Layne 4). Assists: 8 (Layne 4, Markel 2). Steals: 9 (Mullins 4, Markel 2). Blocks: 2 (Layne 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

EASTERN BROWN (22-4): Kayne Dotson 4 0 1-2 9, Jaidon Florence 1 0 2-2 4, Chase Pinkerton 4 0 0-0 8, Sam Ramer 0 0 0-0 0, Carter Cluxton 3 1 0-0 9, Braxton Vance 2 0 1-2 5, Matt Dick 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 17 1 4-6 49. Rebounds: (O-9, D-18) 27 (Pinkerton 7, Vance 7, Cluxton 4). Assists: 8 (Florence 3, Dotson 2, Pinkerton 2). Steals: 7 (Dotson 3, Dick 2). Blocks: 4 (Florence 2, Cluxton 2). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.