The big man came up big.

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

The big man came up big. Coal Grove’s 6-foot-3 senior center Jason Sark had one of the finest games of his career as he led the Hornets to a 57-49 win over the St. Joe Flyers Tuesday night.

Sark had 19 points, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots as Coal Grove improved to 7-6 on the season. Jason Adams added 14 points and Eric Tackett chipped in 10 points.

"Joe was probably the difference in the game. St. Joe’s post kids are young, and Sark is a senior and he’s playing pretty well right now," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said. "He had a a real nice second quarter and did a nice job at the line. And Adams had a nice game."

St. Joe (2-11) was paced by Bill Dressel with 16 points and five rebounds.

Flyers coach Kevin Sheridan said the Flyers had to fight an uphill battle almost the entire game.

"They hit their free throws in the fourth quarter. They did a good job of that. We couldn’t get it tied or get ahead. We battled and we’re getting better, but we just couldn’t get over the hump," said Sheridan.

St. Joe took an 8-6 first quarter lead, but then Sark scored 11 points and Adams had eight more the second quarter as Coal Grove rallied to take a 29-20 halftime lead. Dressel had seven points to keep the Flyers close.

Humphreys said Sark and Adams played well the first half, but he said the Hornets played well as a team,

"Ryan Young had only six points, but with Beau (Webb) out (due to an illness), he had to step out and play on the point and he threw some great passes," said Humphreys.

Danny Stack hit a shot to get the Flyers within five, but Coal Grove went on a 9-0 run and the lead was 14. Joe Laber and Chris Laber had four points each as St. Joe trailed 44-35 at the end of the quarter.

Dressel had seven points and Kyle Johnson had five points including a 3-pointer that cut the Hornets lead to two, but Young sank three key free throws as Coal Grove converted 5-of-10 from the line to maintain the lead.

Coal Grove 6 23 15 13 – 57

St. Joe 8 12 15 14 – 49

COAL GROVE (7-6): Jason Winters 2 0 1-3 5, Jacob Ball 1 0 1-2 3, Brandon Waller 1 0 0-0 2, Ryan Young 2 0 2-4 6, Eric Tackett 4 0 2-3 10, Joe Sark 5 1 6-7 19, Jason Adams 4 0 4-5 12. Totals: 19 1 16-24 57. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Tackett. Rebounds: 23. Turnovers: 18. Blocked shots: Sark 2.

ST. JOSEPH (2-11): Chris Carte 3 0 0-0 6, Danny Stack 2 0 0-2 4, Kyle Johnson 1 2 0-2 8, Bill Dressel 4 1 5-6 16, Joe Laber 3 0 0-2 6, Chris Laber 2 0 0-2 4, Shawn Hacker 1 0 3-3 5. Totals: 19-45 (3) 8-17 49. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Dressel. Rebounds: 7-17=24 (Dressel 5, Hacker 5, J. Laber 4, Stack 4). Turnovers: 11. Assists: 4. Steals: 4.