Where’s Smokey the Bear when you need him? That’s what the South Gallia Rebels might have been thinking the second half of Friday’s game against the St.

Sunday, January 06, 2002

Where’s Smokey the Bear when you need him? That’s what the South Gallia Rebels might have been thinking the second half of Friday’s game against the St. Joe Flyers.

After leading for most of the first half, the Rebels fell behind 25-23 at the break when Danny Stack hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Flyers got hot the second half and romped to a 74-46 win over South Gallia.

Bill Dressel had the hot hand the third quarter as he scored 16 of his points and St. Joe outscored South Gallia 29-13 to take a commanding 54-36 lead.

"I thought that after the (Christmas) break we’d come out sluggish or we’d come out on fire. Well, we came out on fire the third quarter," Flyers coach Adam Simpson said.

"We had hardly any turnovers the second half. Chris (Carte) and Danny (Stack) did a great job handling the ball and Chris (Laber) and Joe (Laber) controlled the boards, and Bill was on fire. And Kyle Johnson played well off the bench. He really played under control."

Dressel finished with a game-high 30 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Chris Laber had a big game with 15 points and 11 rebounds, five on the offensive glass. Joe Laber scored 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Chris Cart had four steals, Danny Stack had five assists and two steals, and Johnson grabbed five rebounds.

"We finally started to play the second half. We’ve been off for 14 days," Dressel said. "I thought I rushed myself the first half. I had more time than I realized, so I slowed down the second half."

Dressel may have slowed down his shooting motion, but not his scoring pace. He had a layup and then a steal and 10-footer to begin the second half for a 29-23 lead.

Jason Merrick hit a 3-pointer and Josh Waugh a short jumper for South Gallia, but Stack sank a foul shot and Dressel tipped in a missed shot.

Waugh followed up a missed attempt to make it 32-30. Dressel then drained a 3-pointer, Chris Laber made two foul shots, and Dressel knocked down another 3-pointer. Joe Laber’s layup capped the run and the Flyers led 42-30 with 4:29 on the clock.

Waugh and Kyle Mooney hit back-to-back jumpers, but Joe Laber’s foul shot and two more baskets by Dressel extended the lead to 48-34. Carte had two steals for layups in the final 20 seconds to put the Flyers up 54-36.

Chris Laber’s layup to begin the fourth quarter put the lead at 20, and Joe Laber’s 3-pointer with 3:26 left gave St. Joe its biggest lead of the game at 70-40.

Mooney had 17 points to lead South Gallia. Waugh and Merrick added 10 points each. Brandon Caldwell had seven rebounds.

South Gallia 10 13 13 10 – 46

St. Joseph 7 18 29 20 – 74

SOUTH GALLIA: Josh Waugh 5-13 (0-1) 0-0 10, Kyle Mooney 7-15 (1-5) 2-2 17, Sam Spear 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jason Merrick 4-11 (1-5) 1-1 10, Teddy Fortner 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brandon Caldwell 1-4 (0-0) 0-0 0, Zach Haner 2-6 (0-0) 0-0 4, Lester Hayes 0-0 (0-0) 1-2 1, Dustin Lewis 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Steve Bailey 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Totals: 20-52 (3-14) 4-5 46. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Fortner. Rebounds: 8-25=33 (Caldwell 7, Merrick 6, Waugh 6). Assists: 4 (Merrick 2). Steals: 4. Turnovers: 27.

ST. JOSEPH (2-5): Chris Carte 3-4 (0-0) 0-0 6, Danny Stack 2-10 (1-2) 3-4 8, Bill Dressel 12-22 (3-9) 3-4 30, Joe Laber 3-9 (1-1) 5-7 12, Chris Laber 5-9 (0-0) 3-4 13, Kyle Johnson 2-5 (1-1) 0-0 5, Chris Keeney 0-3 (0-0) 0-0 0, Shawn Hacker 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 27-62 (5-12) 14-19 74. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-23=35 (C. Laber 11, J. Laber 9, Johnson 5, Dressel 4). Assists: 11 (Stack 5, Dressel 3). Steals: 9 (Carte 4, Dressel 3, Stack 2). Turnovers: 16.