ATHENS, OH — Spurts and sputters.

A couple of scoring spurts by Western Indians and a couple of stalled offensive stretches by the St. Joseph Flyers proved to be the difference in Tuesday’s Division IV district semifinal game at Ohio University.

Western had three spurts as they pulled away to a 63-48 win.

“They had one spurt to close out the second quarter and came back with another one to start the second half,” Flyers coach Kevin Hacker said. “We had a spurt to come back, but we were just too far down.”

The game was tied five times until a layup by Jeremy McLeod and a steal and layup by Michael White gave Western the lead for good at 24-20 with just under four minutes left in the first half.

A follow up shot by Ryan Staton got the Flyers within 26-23 only to have Western close the half with a 8-0 run to take a 34-23 lead.

“White and McLeod were quick. They gave us some problems and (Western) hurt us on the boards,” Hacker said.

The Indians scored 7 straight points to begin the second half to open up a 41-23 cushion.

Michael Basedow hit a trifecta at the 5:27 mark to end the run and ignite a 7-point run by the Flyers that included a steal by Ryan Schwab and layup by Chad Harvey followed by a layup by Basedow off a pass from Schwab.

St. Joseph cut the deficit to 45-36 with 58 seconds on the clock when Basedow hit a short jumper, but then came another spurt.

Vince Shanks hit a foul shot and White knocked down a triple at the buzzer and it was 49-36.

The scoring spree continued to begin the fourth quarter as Western scored 10 unanswered points and it was 59-36. Basedow finally ended the spurt with a 10-footer at the 5:28 mark, but the Flyers could never recover.

Basedow and Harvey had 14 points each to lead the Flyers. Clay Crum grabbed 6 rebounds.

Harvey was playing despite a temperature of 101 degrees earlier in the day.

“He didn’t feel well, but he said he felt good enough to play. He’s a gamer,” Hacker said.

McLeod, the district Player of the Year, had 23 points and White 15. The Indians held a 32-22 rebound advantage.

St. Joseph, 12-10, was making its first trip to the Convo after winning its first sectional title in 32 years.

“It was a good year. This is something to build on for next year. They know they can do it now. It takes work, but they can do it. I’m proud of them,” Hacker said.

Western (19-3) will play Portsmouth Clay at 3 p.m. Saturday in the district finals.

St. Joseph1491312=48

Western18161514=63

ST. JOSEPH (12-10): Chad Harvey 7 0 0-2 14, Michael Basedow 5 1 1-4 14, Ryan Schwab 0 0 0-0 0, Clay Crum 0 0 1-3 1, Ryan Staton 2 0 0-0 6, Cory Lewis 2 1 0-0 7, Jerrod Laber 0 0 1-2 1, Caleb Blackburn 1 0 0-0 2, Alex Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Joey Basedow 0 0 0-0 0, Joe Unger 0 0 0-0 0, Pat Gagai 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 21-47

3-11

48. 3-point goals: 3-9. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-16=22 (Crum 6, Staton 4, M. Basedow 4). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 8 (Basedow 4, Schwab 3, Lewis). Steals: 5 (Staton, Laber, Harvey, Schwab, Crum 1 each). Turnovers: 16. Blocked shots: 2 (Harvey 1, M. Basedow 1).

WESTERN (19-3): Jeremy McLeod 8 0 7-7 23, Michael White 6 1 0-0 15, Zach Kier 1 0 0-0 2, Robbie Smithson 5 0 0-1 10, Vince Shanks 4 0 3-4 11, Chris Penwell 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Cooper 1 0 0-0 2, Drew Wolford 0 0 0-0 0, Blake Downing 0 0 0-0 0, Colten Lambert 0 0 0-0 0, Casey Ott 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-61

10-12

63. 3-point goals: 1-4. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 14-18=32 (Shanks 12, McLeod 7, Smithson 5). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 7 (McLeod 4). Steals: 13 (White 7, McLeod 3). Turnovers: 14. Blocked shots: 4 (Shanks 3, McLeod 1).