Final: @ Portsmouth 59 Ironton 53

[wipala]

SHHHH! He might hear you and,,then WHAM!! lol...Prince is a lot of fun to read

[coop]

PLH TTT MOJO JUJU!!!!

[oldtrojan]

Prince is lurking out there,but where we on this site may never know!

[on a mission]

Great game with great atmosphere! There is still time for the fine tuning! This year the sectionals should be a blast. It is unfortunate for southern Ohio that our best teams will knock each other out,but whoever comes out of the bracket should be in good shape for a deep run. Go Tigers Go!

[trojandave]

Fantastic high school basketball game between two arch rivals........

Congratulations to the Trojans on the win........and for holding off a fierce Ironton charge in the last 5 minutes..........Duke Edwards stepped up BIG TIME off the bench and played his best game of the year.........Jaylen Carter once again gave Coach Collins very good minutes also, and in addition was money from the FT line.

Wayne Evans.........the kid played a great game at both ends of the court.........but that's the norm with Wayne.........he gives 100% each and every game.

I also want to give the Fighting Tigers credit for their comeback........PHS held a 15 point lead late in the 3rd quarter, but IHS cut a 45-30 lead to 55-53 with less than a minute to play........but the Men of Troy made enough clutch FT's in those final 45 seconds to seal the win.

After getting blasted by Ironton during summer ball and losing the first game this season, it feels good to get a W over the Fighting Tigers...........and the chances are pretty good that these two schools will be meeting a 3rd time, but a lot of basketball is left to be played.

Great to talk to a number of Ironton fans before the game, including Tigertownturkey.

GO TROJANS!!!

[trojandave]

Portsmouth won its 9th straight game with Mason Jordan as a starter, and also captured its 3rd win in 4 games vs. the Fighting Tigers...........Coach Collins is now 3-2 vs. IHS, and the series is now 83-61 if favor of PHS..........Ironton, though, has won 15 of the last 19 games.

Portsmouth and Ironton have not met in the tournament since the 2005 season, when the undefeated Fighting Tigers beat the Trojans 54-30 at Jackson High School........IHS went on to the state championship game, losing a heartbreaker to N. College Hill to finish 26-1.

[Gray Fighting Tiger]

Congrats to the Trojans.

Ironton has to realize that they can't afford to fall behind vs. a good team with the mindset that it's ok, the deficit will be overcome late in the game.

BTW, at one time, it seemed that Ironton and Portsmouth met every year in the post-season; with Portsmouth winning at will.

[trojandave]

Gray Fighting Tiger: Off the top of my head, I recall these postseason encounters with the Fighting Tigers:

2005: Ironton 54, Portsmouth 30 Sectional Final Tigers finish D3 state runnerup 26-1
1996: Ironton 96, Portsmouth 61 Sectional Opener
1989: Portsmouth 63, Ironton 55 OT Sectional Final
1988: Portsmouth 59, Ironton 56 Sectional Final Trojans win D2 state title 27-1
1979: Ironton 54, Portsmouth 52 District Final Snapped Trojans' 29 game winning streak
1978: Portsmouth 60, Ironton 49 Sectional Opener Trojans win AA state title
1970: Ironton 70, Portsmouth 68 Only time two schools met as AAA schools
1968: Ironton over Portsmouth Sectional Opener
1958: Ironton over Portsmouth Sectional Opener
1957: Ironton over Portsmouth Sectional Opener

I'm sure there are some other postseason clashes between the two, but from the above results, the Fighting Tigers have been a nemesis for the Trojans. Don't know the actual tournament record between the two schools. At least in the results above, the Trojans won the state title after beating Ironton in 1978 and 1988.

1994 was an interesting year.......Ironton lost to Portsmouth twice in the regular season, and both PHS and IHS were in the D2 regional that year........PHS lost to Columbus St. Charles 56-53 in the semifinal, while Ironton beat Steubenville in the other semi. Then the Fighting Tigers crushed St. Charles in the regional final 76-54, so IHS avoided having to play PHS a 3rd time, and advanced to its first state tournament before losing to Wauseon in the semifinal.

To my knowledge, Portsmouth and Ironton have never met in the regional, either the semifinal or the final.........this could be the year that history is made in the series, although a lot of basketball is left to be played...........but the possibility is there. If it does happen, I can just imagine the week of hype leading up to that game.

[Gray Fighting Tiger]

Thanks, Dave. My memory of those things is spotty at best.

I agree with you that most likely there were other meetings, but I don't have details.