PORTSMOUTH – To climb a staircase, you go one step at a time.

The St. Joseph Flyers began their journey for the season with a step in the right direction as they beat the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans 51-42 Friday.

Flyers coach Kevin Hacker said his team needs to avoid the trap of last season when they began 7-1 and then won only one more time the rest of the season.

“It was a huge win. That was a big stepping stone to get back on track from last year. Last year we started out good and went into that slide,” Hacker said.

St. Joseph got off to a good start despite starters Michael Basedow and Ryan Staton getting into early foul trouble and Clay Crum missing the game due to an illness.

“Our depth was a key tonight. We were able to play more guys and they weren’t able to do that. It was nice to be able to rotate two guys and not lose anything,” Hacker said.

Cory Lewis led St. Joseph with a game-high 22 points plus 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

Chad Harvey added 11 points, Staton had 6 rebounds and Jerrod Laber 8 points, 4 steals and 2 assists. Ryan Schwab had 4 assists.

Trailing 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, Harvey and Lewis combined for 9 points in the second quarter and the defense began to take over as the Flyers took a 21-15 halftime lead.

“We changed our defense got some turnovers and we got some good looks. Caleb Blackburn came in and did a nice job defensively. He gets after it,” Hacker said.

The Titans managed to get within 33-31 at the end of the third quarter, but Lewis scored 10 points in the fourth quarter including 8 of 8 from the foul line to seal the win.

The Flyers were 18 of 41 from the field for 44 percent, but Hacker was more impressed with just 8 turnovers.

“I was happy to see that,” Hacker said.

The Flyers played at New Boston Saturday and host Rock Hill on Friday.

St. Joseph7141218=51

Notre Dame1051611=42

IRONTON ST. JOSEPH (1-0):

Chad Harvey 2 2 1-2 11, Michael Basedow 1 0 1-2 3, Cory Lewis 7 0 8-8 22, Ryan Staton 0 0 2-2 2, Jerrod Laber 4 0 0-0 8, Caleb Blackburn 2 0 1-6 5, Ryan Schwab 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-41

(2-10)

12-19

51. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 10-16=26 (Lewis 7, Staton 6). Assists: 8 (Schwab 4, Laber 2). Steals: 11 (Laber 4, Lewis 3). Turnovers: 8. Blocked shots: 2 (Laber 1, Lewis 1).

PORTSMOUTH NOTRE DAME (0-1):

Kevin Delabar 2 3 2-2 15, Alex Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Daniel Sand 3 0 0-6 6, Mike Mullins 5 0 4-8 14, Matt Massie 2 0 0-1 4, Shane Slack 0 0 1-3 1. Totals: 13

3

7-20

42. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.