The St. Joseph Flyers needed a miracle. Someone was listening to their prayers.

New Boston was leading 56-55 with five seconds to play, and the Tigers were inbounding the ball under the Flyers basket.

The inbounds pass went to Greg Mauk, but he slipped and the ball scooted past him to the middle of the lane. St. Joseph center Shawn Hacker picked up the ball and scored with two seconds left to give the Flyers the thrilling 57-56 upset win.

"We told them (during the timeout) they had one second to get the steal. If not, they had to foul," Flyers coach Adam Simpson said.

Hacker finished with a career-high 34 points, 25 coming in the second half. He had 18 rebounds and three blocked shots.

"My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball," Hacker said.

Jeremy Addis added 12 points. Ryan Schwab had five assists and Cory Lewis four while Michael Basedow grabbed six rebounds and Alex Swarts pulled down four.

"This was a great win for our kids. We had only one player with varsity experience," Simpson said. "This was the worst team for us to start with because they had seven seniors and their helter skelter style of basketball."

St. Joseph used the long-range shooting of Jeremy Addis with three 3-pointers and six points by Hacker to build a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

But the Flyers had nine turnovers the second quarter and managed just six field goal attempts as New Boston rallied.

The Tigers tied the game twice late in the half, then took a 28-25 halftime lead on a foul shot by Aaron Spriggs and a 10-footer by Michael Day.

The lead changed hands four times in the third quarter before the Flyers got two straight baskets by Hacker and held a 44-39 lead at the end of the stanza.

Two foul shots by Hacker and one by Addis gave the Flyers a 51-44 lead with 3:51 to play. Mauk hit a 3-pointer and Marty Mohr a layup to get the Tigers within 51-49.

A 3-pointer by Zach Messer and two free throws by Day gave New Boston a 54-53 lead with 2:19 left.

"We knew their 3s were going to come, that's why we had to hit our free throws. But we missed three one-and-ones down the stretch that hurt us," Simpson said.

St. Joseph, making just 5 of 12 from the line the final quarter, got a layup by Hacker off a nice pass from Ryan Schwab to regain the lead with 42 seconds left. New Boston then took the lead on a 15-footer by Messer with 13 seconds to go.

Mohr had a steal with 12 seconds left and St. Joseph committed a foul. Since it was not a one-and-one situation, New Boston had to inbound the ball and Hacker got the steal and winning basket.

Mauk scored 18 points, Day 12 and Messer 11 to lead the Tigers.

In the reserve game, St. Joseph won 34-30 as Ryan Waginger scored 13 points.

New Boston8201117-56

St. Joseph1781913-57

NEW BOSTON (0-1):

Matt Marshall 2-5 0-0 0-0 4, Greg Mauk 7-25

3-12

1-2

18, Michael Day 5-11

0-1

2-3

12, Zach Messer 5-16

1-4

0-1

11, Brandon Hemming 0-0

0-0

0-0

0, Rocky Dunkin 1-4

0-0

0-0

2, Marty Mohr 2-6

0-0

0-4

4, Aaron Spriggs 2-4

0-1

1-2

5. Totals: 24-71

4-18

4-12

56. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 17-13=30 (Dunkin 7, Messer 5).

Assists: 7 (Messer 4). Steals: 18 (Messer 5, Mauk 4, Spriggs 4). Turnovers: 17.

IRONTON ST. JOSEPH (1-0):

Ryan Schwab 0-0

0-0

2-3

2, Cory Lewis 1-4

1-2

0-0 3, Jeremy Addis 4-5

3-4

1-3

12, Alex Swarts 2-4

0-0

0-0

4, Shawn Hacker 14-20

0-0

6-7

34, Michael Basedow 1-6

0-1

0-4

2. Totals: 22-39

4-6

9-17

57. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: Addis. Rebounds: 5-32=37 (Hacker 18, Basedow 6). Assists: 11 (Schwab 5, Lewis 4). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 30. Blocked shots: 4 (Hacker 3, Basedow 1).