Hot start propels Ironton to first district title since 2015

ATHENS — If fans and pundits are not talking about the Ironton Fighting Tigers basketball team, they better start.

Ironton continued it’s amazing season by using the same formula it has all season to topple the Wheelersburg Pirates 63-47 to win the Division 5 district championship at the Ohio University Convocation Center on Saturday.

Avenging one of its only two losses this season, Ironton used defense and controlling the backboards to win its first district title since 2015. The Fighting Tigers (22-2) will play Eastern Brown at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Ohio University in the regional semifinals. Eastern Brown beat Chesapeake 49-40 in its district final.

Ironton limited Wheelersburg to 13 field goals and outscored the Pirates 23-4 on second chance points.

“Defense is going to continue to be our calling card,” said Ironton first-year head coach Drew Stevens. “We’re going to continue picking people up for 32 minutes full-court and, hopefully, we’ll keep riding this wave we’re on.”

Southeast District Player of the Year Ashton Layne and all-district selections Maddix Markel and Brycen Mullins keyed the win. Layne had 11 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, Markel led with 14 points and Mullins had 13 points.

Stevens said Ironton has been an unselfish team all season and worked as a single unit to achieve its success.

“Ashton has been our guy all year. We’ve rode him and the guys on the team don’t care to defer to him,” said Stevens

“We play through Ashton and that’s what opens up the outside and enables us to get our shots off. He deserves every moment of this. All these kids do. None of this is possible without all of our kids buying into this system that we put in places several months ago. It just so happens that everything’s working out.”

Wheelersburg (15-7) was led by Hunter givens with 19 points, Braylon Rucker with 18 points and Xavier Miller added 10 points.

Wheelersburg head coach Alex Prater said Ironton proved to be the better team.                                                                             

“Give them credit. They played extremely well and extremely hard. They got off to a good start and really did a good job of managing runs. We did make a run back at them but they just seemed to have an answer at some point,” said Prater.

Prater had nothing but praise for his four seniors and their contributions to the program’s success.

“Braylon has had a great career. He’s the guy when things are tough we rely on. He stepped up and made some plays for us,” said Prater. “It’s a great group of seniors. Obviously, we’ll miss Braylon and all he’s contributed. Landon McGraw has had a great career. I’m really proud of how he’s progress on the defensive end and rebounding for us,” said Prater.

“Hunter Bivens is as mature player as I’ve coached. Guess the extension of a coach on the floor. He does things the right way. He’s maximized every ability God has blessed him with. Caden Estep you don’t get to see much on game nights but he’s the most selfless player I’ve ever coached. He sacrifices preparing his teammates and contributing to our success.”

Wheelersburg ends the season 15-7. The loss also ended a streak that saw every senior class since 1981 win a district title during at least one season of their high school careers.

Wheelersburg 9 16 11 11 = 47

Ironton 20 14 15 14 = 63

WHEELERSBURG (15-7): Braylon Rucker 6 0 6-9 18, Hunter Bivens 4 3 2-3 19, xavier Miller 3 1 1-1 10, Jack Doerr 0 0 0-0 0, Landon McGraw 0 0 0-0 0, Graer Woodward 1 0 0-0 2, Cameron Chamberlain 0 0 0-0 0, Brew Hanzel 0 0 0-0 0. Totals; 13 4 10-13 47. Rebounds: 8-O 17-D = 25 (Bivens 6). Assists: 4 (Rucker 2). Steals: 5 (Rucker 3). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (22-2): Maddix Markel 3 2 2-2 14, Ashton Layne 5 0 1-2 11, brycen Mullins 3 2 1-3 13, Carson Freeman 0 2 2-2 6, Stephen Ison 0 3 0-2 9. Totals: 14 9 8-13 63. Rebounds: 36 (Layne 13, Edwards 5, Freeman 5). Assists: 12 (Layne 6). Steals: 3 (Mullins 2). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.