Trojans upset Tigers on Woods' jumper at the buzzer
- Staff
- 18 minutes ago
- 3 min read
PORTSMOUTH — It was a tight game and as a result it’s now a tight Ohio Valley Conference race.
In a game that was back and forth, the Portsmouth Trojan’s Daequan Woods hit a baseline jumper as time expired to edge the Ironton Fighting Tigers 73-72.
Woods sank two free throws with 50 seconds left to give the Trojans a 71-70 lead.
Ironton tied the game on a free throw by Ashton Layne with 37 seconds left.
Portsmouth was called for a foul on its next possession and Ironton went to the line with 10 seconds left.
Zayne Williams’s first attempt rolled around the rim and fell off, but his second attempt fell through to give Ironton a 72-71 lead.
Portsmouth was fouled with four seconds left and the inbounds pass went to Woods who got the ball on the baseline, turned and hit the shot despite the defensive pressure in his face.
“That’s basketball. I told them in the locker room you let teams like this hang around, bad things happen,” said Ironton coach Drew Stevens.
“We’re playing for March. This is a tough environment, a tough place to play. You can’t give a team like this a running head start and think that you can play from behind.
“But you win them and you lose them. We’re not going to go undefeated. We shot the ball well. I’m proud of that. Defensively, we struggled a little bit. We have to play better defense.”
The Fighting Tigers connected on 24 of 45 shots from the field for 53 percent.
Despite the loss, Ironton is 9-2 overall and leads the OVC by one-half game at 4-1.
Chesapeake is 8-1 and 3-1 in the OVC, Fairland is 5-3 and 2-2 while Portsmouth is 5-4 and also 2-2 in the league.
Portsmouth took a slim 21-20 first quarter lead as Woods scored 8 points and Connie Thomas had 6.
Mullins hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter while Stephen Ison made a pair of triples for Ironton.
The Trojans took a 38-35 halftime lead as Logan Adkins scored 5 points including a 3-pointer while Woods got 8 more points.
The Fighting Tigers were 7 of 8 at the foul line in the second quarter.
Ironton rallied to tie the game in the third quarter at 53-all as Mullins made his fourth 3-pointer and had 5 points, Layne scored 6 points and Maddix Markel added 4.
Thomas scored 6 points and Crisshawn Dukes got 4 more to pace the Trojans.
In the fourth quarter, Markel and Ison each hit a big 3-pointer and Layne had 5 points in the fourth quarter.
But Thomas hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 12 points with Woods netting 6 more and Adkins adding 4 points.
Layne finished with 23 points and 7 rebounds, Mullins scored 16 points and Markel added 12.
Woods got 24 for Portsmouth and Thomas had 22.
Ironton 20 15 18 19 = 72
Portsmouth 21 17 15 20 = 73
IRONTON (9-2, 4-1): Wyatt Wolfe 0 0 0-0 0, Maddix Markel 3 1 3-6 12, Ashton Layne 9 0 5-6 23, Brycen Mullins 1 4 2-3 16, Carson Freeman 0 0 0-0 0, Kayden Edwards 2 0 2-2 6, Steven Ison 0 4 2-2 14, Zayne Williams 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 24-45 15-21 72. 3-pt goals: 9-17. Rebounds: 4-O, 15-D = 19 (Layne 7 Markel 5). Assists: 15 (Layne 4, Freeman 3). Steal: 5. Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
PORTSMOUTH (5-4, 2-2): Daequan Woods 10 0 4-5 24, Logan Adkins 4 1 0-0 11, Mekhi Berry 0 0 0-2 0, Jay Lofton 0 0 2-4 2, Crisshawn Dukes 3 0 0-0 6, Connie Thomas 6 2 4-4 22, Olynshay McKinley 3 0 2-2 8, Joe Greene 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 3 12-17 73. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Dukes (4th 0:10)