The St.

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

The St. Joe Flyers were in an unusual position. They found their way back to an unwanted position.

The Flyers were ahead by 13 points with four minutes to play, then watched the New Boston Tigers rally to tie the game in regulation and win 76-67 in overtime.

"We had some crucial turnovers and (6-of-15 from the line) missed a bunch of free throws. We’ve never been in that situation and I think we kind of panicked. We just tried to hang on," Flyers coach Kevin Sheridan said.

St. Joe led 42-36 after three quarters, then went on a 7-0 run to take a 49-36 lead with 4:30 to play. But the Flyers were just 6-of-15 from the foul line down the stretch which opened the door for the Tigers.

Mike Pierce scored six points and Greg Mauk hit a 3-pointer and two foul shots as New Boston tied the game at 60-60. Joe Laber had five points and Shawn Hacker four to pace the Flyers.

Down one in overtime, Bill Dressel hit a 3-pointer to put the Flyers ahead, but the Tigers came right back with their own 3-pointer to take the lead for good. Pierce scored seven points in the overtime to match Dressel who also scored seven points.

New Boston went ahead 12-7 the first quarter and built a 24-16 halftime lead.

Dressel got hot the third quarter and scored 14 points as the Flyers outscored New Boston 26-12 to take a six-point lead.

"It was the same old, same old. We played poorly the first half, then we came out fast the third quarter and Dressel caught fire. The third quarter was probably the best quarter we’ve played all year," said Sheridan.

Dressel finished with a game-high 26 points. He also had four rebounds and four steals. Joe Laber added 12 points and four rebounds, Hacker got 11 points, and Chris Laber pulled down seven rebounds.

Pierce had 18 points to lead four players in double figures. Dan Kirkendall scored 13 , and James Bishop and Cody Bender 12 points.

New Boston 12 12 12 22 16 – 76

St. Joe 7 9 26 16 9 – 67

NEW BOSTON: Greg Mauk 0 1 2-2 5, Cody Bender 5 0 2-2 12, B. J. Darling 2 0 0-0 4, James Bishop 3 2 0-0 12, Zach Messer 2 0 1-1 5, Dan Kirkendall 4 0 5-6 13, Zach Howard 1 1 0-1 5, Mike Pierce 8 0 2-2 18. Totals: 25 4 12-14 76. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Darling.

IRONTON ST. JOSEPH (2-9): Chris Carte 2 0 1-4 5, Danny Stack 1 1 1-1 6, Bill Dressel 6 3 5-7 26, Joe Laber 4 0 4-4 12, Chris Laber 3 0 1-6 7, Shawn Hacker 4 0 3-3 11. Totals: 24-54 (4) 15-25 67. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: C. Laber. Rebounds: 20 (C. Laber 7, Dressel 4, J. Laber 4). Assists: 5 (Stack 2). Steal: 7 (Dressel 4). Turnovers: 16.