John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ATHENS — For the first time in 13 seasons, the Ironton Fighting Tigers will play with a regional championship on the line.
Through nearly 11 minutes of play, however, it appeared that Ironton would be getting the bats and gloves out for spring sports season.
After getting out to a 5-2 start in Wednesday’s Division V regional semifinal, Eastern Brown closed the quarter with a dominant 13-0 run and carried that momentum into the second with a variety of balance.
However, the Fighting Tigers were able to regroup, take a collective breath and battle back before putting away a 55-41 victory to advance to the Elite 8.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
“Our best offense all year long has been our defense,” Ironton coach Drew Stevens said. “We knew coming in that Eastern was going to be super physical. That’s what we’ve based our entire season off of, our toughness and defense. We got some stops, but [Eastern] got the first punch tonight. I’m happy that, in the second half, we rebounded from it a little bit. Ashton [Layne] and Maddix [Markel] were neutralized in the first half. So them getting on track was huge for us tonight.”
The Warriors’ early run began with a triple from Carter Cluxton before Kayne Dotson, Chase Pinkerton, Braxton Vance and Matthew Dick all added scores.
The run moved into the second quarter when Cluxton added another bucket before Jaidon Florence knocked down a baseline jumper to give the Warriors their largest lead of the game.
But Ironton (23-2) was about to turn the tides.
Trailing 21-9 with 5:25 to play in the first half, the Fighting Tigers used a pair of inside scores from Layne and two deep 3-pointers from Brycen Mullins to grab a measure of confidence going into halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Eastern’s Matthew Dick picked up his third foul, sending him to the bench and taking away the Warriors’ ability to protect the rim.
That was something that Layne immediately took advantage of.
Layne, a dynamic driver, got to the basket off the dribble throughout the quarter. He scored at the rim with both hands with a variety of dribble moves, keeping the Warriors (22-4) from being able to deny him in the paint.
All in all, Layne scored all 12 points for Ironton in the third frame, tying the game at 31-31 with only eight minutes to play.
“It felt great because they always like to stack the paint,” Layne said. “I knew I could just kick out and trust my guys. I just knew I had to step it up to win this game. That’s what I did. [My teammates] trust me. I just got downhill and did my thing.”
After trailing throughout most of the game, Ironton’s Stephen Ison gave his team a lead for the first time in nearly 24 minutes of game time when he knocked down a pair of triples. Ison then extended the lead with 4:06 to play as he connected on his third trey of the quarter, grabbing a 43-37 advantage.
“I came out in the first half and wasn’t hitting very many shots,” Ison said. “But in the second half, I came out and my teammates just trusted me. I had confidence and [shots] were just going in.”
Once Ironton had the lead, they relied on seniors Carson Freeman and Maddix Markel on the defensive end to help keep the advantage.
“Maddix steps up and makes plays all the time and Carson Freeman has great defense. He guards the best player every night,” Ison said. “It helps everybody else tremendously.”
By slowing Eastern’s offense, the Fighting Tigers were able to navigate through a rough patch of free throw shooting, eventually leading to the 14-point win.
Statistically, Layne led all scorers with 19 points alongside five rebounds and three assists while Ison chipped in with 12 points. Markel added 10 points and eight boards, and Mullins finished with 10 points and four steals.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
“I think everybody’s game plan coming in is to stop Ashton Layne,” Stevens said. “But it’s everybody else around him that can make shots and make it special. When Ison and Mullins started hitting 3’s, it opened up the paint a little bit. Maddix started attacking from the back side and it’s tough to contain both [Layne and Markel]. It’s a family affair. We don’t care who scores, as long as somebody does.”
Cluxton led Eastern with nine points and five rebounds while Dotson had nine points, two assists and two steals. Chase Pinkerton also chipped in with eight points and seven boards.
While the Warriors’ season comes to an end, Ironton advances to a Division V regional final — the program’s first Elite 8 appearance since 2013.
They’ll meet with West Muskingum at 5 p.m., Saturday at Ohio University.
The Tornadoes advanced with a 59-57 buzzer-beating win over St. Clairsville in overtime.
“These guys have all grown up together. They’ve played together since they were little,” Stevens said. “We want to take this as far as we can. The Final 4 is our goal and a state championship is there. Everybody kind of laughed about it for awhile and was like, ‘You guys don’t have a prayer. You’re a football school.’ But we’re not doing too bad to be in the final eight for the first time in a long time.”
SPONSORS
GLO FIBER
THE DRIVING AUTHORITY
