PROCTORVILLE — When you try to live by the 3-pointer, you can also die by the 3-pointer. And for the Ironton Fighting Tigers, it was a slow death.
Poor shooting from beyond the arc took its toll as Ironton lost 63-56 to the Fairland Dragons on Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.
Ironton missed a lot of close shots but still converted 15-of-31 from 2-point range, but the Fighting Tigers were just 4-of-21 from the 3-point range for a mere 21 percent.
“When we shoot 16 or more 3’s we haven’t won. They did hurt us on the offensive glass because they would spread us out and then just run at the basket,” said Barnes.
“We played hard, we just didn’t make enough shots. We had some shots in the fourth quarter that didn’t go down that were from 10 feet and open. We tried a bunch of guys who have made shots in the past and helped us win, but tonight they just wouldn’t go down.”
Fairland (11-4, 7-2) shot 40 percent (17-42) from the 2-point range and hit 6-of-16 from behind the arc for 23 percent, but the Dragons were able to hit clutch shots.
Chase Allen was the top shooter for the Dragons as he scored a game-high 23 points. Including three 3-pointers and 8-of-9 from the foul line.
Fairland’s Brody Buchanan had 14 points and 3 assists, Will had 10 points and 5 assists and Noah Marcum grabbed 6 rebounds.
Braden Schreck scored 14 points and made half of Ironton’s 3-point goals. Shaun Terry scored 13 points — 10 in the fourth quarter — and Ashton Layne had 11 points, 13 rebounds, a steal and 4 blocked shots.
“Our M.O. in our losses is shooting. We were down basically six points the whole second half and that’s two possessions. But we missed 17 3’s. We’re about a 50 percent team from 2’s, so of those 17 possessions you make five, we’re up four,” said Barnes.
“We’re shooting too many 3’s. Their game plan had Will (Davis) not guard anybody and just run and trap and double team Braden (Schreck) in the post. We had open shots that we just didn’t knock them down.”
Ironton (10-5, 6-3) had its only lead of the game at 4-3 on a layup by Markel Cotton at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter.
Allen converted a 3-point play only to have Cotton tie the game at 6-all.
Buchanan hit a 3-pointer and a 15-footer as Fairland took the lead for good at 11-6 and led 13-7 at the end of the quarter.
The Dragons opened up a 22-11 lead before Bryce Markins hit a 3-pointer for Ironton to make it 22-14.
Allen made a 3-pointer and Noah Marcum a layup for a 30-16 lead. Schreck’s 3-pointer made it 30-19 at the half.
Schreck had a layup and 2 free throws to start the second half and a layup by Ashton Layne off a pass from Schreck made it 32-25.
Marcum and Buchanan scored and it was 36-25 but Schreck answered with a 3-pointer.
Ironton got within 42-37 on a puback by Layne but Allen scored and the Dragons were up 44-37 at the end of the quarter.
Terry caught fire in the fourth quarter and made 4 free throws that cut the deficit to 56-50 with 1:33 to play.
But Allen scored 11 points in the quarter including 3-of-4 at the foul line to prevent any comeback.
Ironton 7 12 18 19 = 56
Fairland 13 17 14 19 = 63
IRONTON (10-5, 6-3): Braden Schreck 2 2 4-6 14, Shaun Terry 2 1 6-10 13, Ashton Layne 4 0 3-4 11, Bailey Thacker 4 0 0-0 8, Markel Cotton 3 0 1-2 7, Bryce Markins 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Roach 0 0 0-0 0, Judah Barnes 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-52 14-22 56. 3-pt goals: 4-21. Rebounds: O-12 D-21 = 33 (Layne 13, Thacker 9). Assists: 8 (Schreck 3, Terry 2). Steals: 3 (Terry, Layne, Thacker). Blocks: 6 (Layne 4). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Terry (0:02 4th).
FAIRLAND (11-4, 7-2): Will Davis 3 1 1-2 10, Chase Allen 3 3 8-9 23, Brycen Hunt 1 0 1-3 3, Noah Marcum 3 0 0-0 6, Keegan Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Brody Buchanan 5 1 1-2 14, Peyton Jackson 1 0 0-1 2. Totals: 23-58 11-17 63. 3-pt goals: 6-16. Rebounds: O-10 D-20 = 30 (Hunt 7, Marcum 6). Assists: 11 (Davis 5, Buchanan 3). Steals: 3. Blocks: 1. Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Marcum (4th 1:33).
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