Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

FRANKLIN FURNACE — The St. Joseph Flyers believe in share and share alike.

The Flyers had an unselfish team effort with 20 assists that led to some outstanding shooting in a 72-58 win over the Green Bobcats on Saturday.

“That shows we were moving the ball and sharing the ball,” said Flyers’ coach Rex Cooksey.

“It was a total team effort, offensively and defensively. You have to play well to beat them on their court. We did a good job keeping them off the offensive glass. They’ve hurt teams with that.”

Joey McDavid scored a career-high 30 points including 21 in the second half. Clay Willis scored 17 and Chase Walters had 11 points and six rebounds.

Isaac Whaley had nine assists, Willis six and Zach Roach had four assists to go with six rebounds. McDavid had three steals and Willis two.

Besides the assists, the Flyers were 30-of-43 from the field for 69.8 percent and 7-of-14 from behind the arc for 50 percent.

“Everyone contributed in some way. We had Willis and McDavid scoring, Roach did a lot of different things well, Whaley hit some big shots and handled the ball. It was just a team effort,” said Cooksey.

Green (2-10 was led by Tanner Kimbler with 20 points. Gage Sampson scored 16 and Caden Blizzard finished with 15.

St. Joseph (3-1) took a 17-11 first quarter lead as Willis scored seven points while McDavid and Walters got four each.

Walters got two fouls late in the first quarter and didn’t return until the third quarter, but Willis scored eight points and McDavid six in the second quarter and it was 37-25 at the break.

A key play came just before the half ended when Roach found Jimmy Mahmeister open for a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

“With Walters out Willis really stepped,” said Cooksey.

Kimbler scored 12 of his points in the first half.

Green outscored St. Joseph 22-15 in the third quarter to get within 52-47 despite nine points by McDavid.

But McDavid scored 12 points in the fourth quarter as the Flyers extended their lead.

St. Joseph plays at Fairview, Ky., on Friday. The game will pit Cooksey against his son Derek Cooksey who is the Eagles’ head coach.

St. Joseph        17        20        15        20        =          72

Green              11        14        22        11        =          58

1. JOSEPH (3-1): Isaac Whaley 0 3 0-0 9, Zach Roach 1 0 0-0 2, Clay Willis 6 1 2-3 17, Joey McDavid 12 2 0-0 30, Chase Walters 4 0 3-4 11, Jimmy Mahlmeister 0 1 0-0 3, J.C. Damron 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-43 5-7 72. 3-pt. goals: 7-14. Rebounds: 20 (Roach 6, Walters 6). Assists: 20 (Whaley 9, Willis 6, Roach 4). Steals: 5 (McDavid 3, Willis 2). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.

GREEN (2-1): Tanner Kimbler 2 4 4-4 20, Tayte Carver 1 0 1-2 3, Zach Huffman 2 0 0-0 4, Gage Sampson 5 1 3-3 16, Caden Blizzard 2 2 5-5 15, Rylee Maynard 0 0 0-0 0, Caden Brammer 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 7 13-14 58. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 9.