COAL GROVE – Someone finally unscrewed the lid on the baskets the second half.

Sunday, December 16, 2001

COAL GROVE – Someone finally unscrewed the lid on the baskets the second half. After making only 10 of 32 shots the first half, the Coal Grove Hornets connected on 15 of 24 shots the second half and used a late surge to beat the St. Joe Flyers 63-52 Friday.

"We told them at halftime we were going to start making some of those bunnies (layups) the second half," Hornets coach Darrell Humphreys said. "Brandon Waller stepped up and got us really going with that spurt."

Waller, who had a career-high 21 points, scored 11 points the fourth quarter including four in a 14-2 run that snapped a 44-44 tie and sent the Hornets on their way to a second victory in five games.

"It wasn’t a work of art, but we’ll take it," Humphreys said. "I don’t think either team played as well as they’re capable."

Caleb Potter had 16 points for the Hornets while Justin Gibson and Waller grabbed nine rebounds each and Jimmy Lemon came off the bench to pull down eight rebounds. The Hornets held a 36-27 rebound advantage.

Bill Dressel led St. Joe (1-3) with 21 points and nine rebounds. Chris Laber had 15 points and seven rebounds while Danny Stack had eight rebounds, two assists and five steals.

The game was tied nine times and the lead changed hands on seven occasions.

Tied 42-42 after three quarters thanks to a layup by Potter, Waller hit a short baseline jumper to start the fourth quarter and put Coal Grove up 44-42.

Dressel’s 15-footer tied the game for the final time at 44-44 with 6:52 to play. Coal Grove then went on its run that began with J. J. Hunt’s 15-footer at the 5:49 mark and ended on two foul shots by Potter with 1:50 to play that made it 58-46.

"We got a little tired, but give Coal Grove credit. They stepped it up when they had to and hit a spurt there and that was the ball game," Flyers coach Adam Simpson said.

St. Joe had jumped out to a 10-0 to start the game before Coal Grove came back to lead 16-13. Joe Laber hit a layup and Dressel’s 3-pointer with two seconds left put the Flyers ahead 18-16.

St. Joe was up 25-22 on two foul shots by Joe Laber with 2:46 left in the half but failed to score again. Gibson’s 16-footer and a short jumper by Tommy Pemberton gave Coal Grove a 26-25 halftime lead.

Dressel’s 3-point to open the second half put St. Joe back on top, but then the game was tied seven times in the quarter including when it ended.

@agate:<B>St. Joe 18 7 17 10 – 52

Coal Grove 16 10 16 21 – 63

ST. JOSEPH (1-3): <B>Chris Carte 0-4 (0-3) 0-0 0, Danny Stack 2-9 (0-1) 0-0 4, Bill Dressel 8-19 (3-6) 2-2 21, Joe Laber 4-11 (0-0) 1-2 9, Chris Laber 6-10 (0-0) 3-4 15, Kyle Johnson 1-5 (0-1) 1-2 3, Chris Keeney 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 20-58 (3-10) 7-10 52. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 11-19=30 (Dressel 9, Stack 8, C. Laber 7). Assists: 6 (Stack 3, Dressel 2, Johnson 1). Steals: 11 (Stack 5, Dressel 3). Turnovers: 12.

<B>COAL GROVE (2-3): <B> J. J. Hunt 4-8 (0-2) 0-0 8, Justin Gibson 3-14 (0-0) 0-1 6, Caleb Potter 5-7 (0-0) 6-8 16, 8-13 (0-1) 5-6 21, Jimmy Lemon 3-3 (0-0) 0-1 6, Zac Nance 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tim Elliott 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Tommy Pemberton 2-11 (0-0) 2-2 6. Totals: 25-56 (0-3) 13-19 63. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 13-23=36 (Gibson 9, Waller 9, Lemon 8, Pemberton 6). Assists: 8 (Waller 3, Pemberton 2). Steals: 5 (Waller 2). Turnovers: 15.