When the defense takes away option one, go to option two.

First, Alex Swarts hurt the Coal Grove defense. When the Hornets put their focus on Swarts, the St. Joseph Flyers went to option two which was Michael Basedow.

Basedow proved to be the right way to go as he scored 27 points to lead the Flyers to a 65-47 win over the Hornets Friday night.

“They played a zone and Alex hurt them. When they went out on him they left Michael free and he lit it up,” St. Joseph coach Kevin Hacker said.

Swarts finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Cory Lewis also had 14 points and nine rebounds. Ryan Schwab added eight rebounds and eight steals for the Flyers (5-1).

“Swarts hurt us early inside and then Basedow got hot and that hurt us. (Basedow) made a huge difference,” Hornets coach Mike Waller said.

Coal Grove (2-4) was led by Evan Melvin with 20 points and Randy Wise had 16 points including five 3-pointers.

Hacker said the Flyers main concern was limiting Wise’s points.

“We had to keep Wise in check. He’s capable of getting 27. We kept switchin Ryan Schwab and Clay Crum on him to keep fresh legs,” Hacker said.

Coal Grove took an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

St. Joseph came back to take a 27-23 halftime lead as Basedow erupted for 11 points in the second quarter. Swarts scored six points while Wise had six for the Hornets.

Basedow scored 10 more points in the third quarter to more than offset seven points by Melvin and the Flyers lead was 44-34.

Lewis had eight points and Basedow six in the fourth quarter as the Flyers began to pull away.

Coal Grove11121113=47

St. Joseph7201721=65

COAL GROVE (2-4): Zach Murphy 1 0 0-0 2, Evan Melvin 8 0 4-6 20, Matt Melvin 0 0 1-2 1, Randy Wise 0 5 1-4 16, Bob Reynolds 0 0 2-2 2, Adam Bare 3 0 0-2 6, Tyler Branch 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Sloan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 (5) 7-16 47. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Bare, M. Melvin.

IRONTON ST. JOSEPH (5-1): Michael Basedow 4 5 4-4 27, Ryan Schwab 3 0 0-1 6, Cory Lewis 3 1 5-6 14, Jeremy Addis 0 0 1-5 1, Alex Swarts 6 0 2-3 14, Ryan Staton 1 0 1-2 3, Clay Crum 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-54 (6) 13-20 65. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-29=41 (Swarts 12, Lewis 9, Schwab 8). Assists: 14 (Schwab 8). Steals: 6 (Addis 2). Turnovers: 14.