WILLOW WOOD – When a hitter comes out of a hitting slump, he usually gets hot and gets a string of hits.

Saturday, December 18, 1999

WILLOW WOOD – When a hitter comes out of a hitting slump, he usually gets hot and gets a string of hits.

When a shooter breaks a slump, he usually can’t miss.

Eric Waginger and Bill Dressel broke their slumps Friday.

Waginger made 9-of-18 field goal attempts as he scored a career-high 28 points and Dressel had a career-high 17 points as the St. Joe Flyers beat the Symmes Valley Vikings 76-56.

"Eric was the difference. He controlled the ball game. Bub (Waginger) got in foul trouble and Eric had to handle the ball. He gave us some good leadership out there," Flyers coach Kevin Sheridan said. "Bill kind of came out of his slump. He had 11 the fourth quarter and that was big."

The Vikings stayed in their shooting slump, hitting just 21 of 67 shots for 31.3 percent. The absence of 6-foot-5 leading scorer and rebounder Justin Myers, out with an injury, didn’t help matters.

"We didn’t have Myers, but we didn’t play well," Vikings coach Brent Wilcoxon said. "Eric Waginger shot the ball well. We couldn’t hit anything and they had a couple of guys come out of their slumps. They played well."

Jeremy Copley and Travis Wilson scored 10 points each to lead the Vikings, 2-2. Copley also had 13 rebounds.

Eric Waginger scored 9 points the first quarter as St. Joe took a 20-15 lead. Bub Waginger hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer that gave St. Joe a 33-27 lead at the half.

"That was a big shot," Sheridan said of the 3-pointer. "We eliminated giving up that one big quarter. We had done that in every game this year. This was a big win for us. We finally did some things tonight that carried over from what they’ve been doing in practice."

Eric Waginger scored 8 points the third quarter as St. Joe stretched its lead to 50-41. The Vikings were forced to foul the fourth quarter and the Flyers were able to convert 13-of-18 at the line. Dressel, who had 11 points in the quarter, was 4-of-7 at the foul stripe.

"We shot the ball better, but our defense is what started things," said Sheridan. "We challenged every shot they took and did a good job rebounding the ball. That was the difference between this game and the previous four. We handled their pressure and it was a great team effort."

On Tuesday, St. Joe, 2-3, will entertain Ohio Valley Christian while Symmes Valley hosts Notre Dame in an SOC game.