It wasn’t the Red Cross, but it was enough of a rescue mission to give St. Joseph Flyers coach Kevin Sheridan the relief he needed.

The Flyers had three starters on the bench for more than half of the second quarter and two of them for part of the third quarter with foul trouble.

Sheridan turned to Pat Gagai, George McCown and Joseph “The Shoe” Unger to pick up the slack and they did as the Flyers beat the New Boston Tigers 56-41 Friday in the season opener for both teams.

“All three of those guys off the bench — Pat, George, and Joseph — did a nice job,” said Sheridan. “In years past if we had gotten in this position, it would have been time to push the panic button.”

St. Joseph forced New Boston into 23 turnovers including 10 steals, five by Gagai. The Flyers needed the defense because they were only 18-of-57 from the field including a meager 6-for-35 in the first half.

Harvey attributed the off night of shooting to first game jitters.

“We were all nervous. The adrenalin was really pumping before the game. I don’t think we ever settled down,” said Harvey.

Sheridan said the Flyers did take care of the ball, but they need to be more patient on offense.

“We settled for the first available shot. When we got the ball inside, we got good looks. We just need to finish,” said Sheridan.

“We did play pretty good defense, but we had way too many fouls.”

St. Joseph missed its first 13 shots to begin the game but New Boston was only 2-of-11 and had five turnovers in the first quarter as the Flyers took a 6-5 lead.

Both teams began to foul repeatedly in the second quarter and the Flyers took advantage by making 9-of-11 free throws to lead 23-14 at the break. The Tigers were just 3-of-11 at the line in the quarter.

Harvey came off the bench to start the third quarter and caught fire by scoring 12 points.

The Flyers were up 32-21 when Harvey hit an 18-footer. Payton Blair and Harvey had back-to-back layups and Gagai’s steal and layup extended the lead to 40-21 with just under two minutes on the clock.

St. Joseph led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Harvey finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. Blair had 17 points and five rebounds while Unger grabbed 13 rebounds.

Josh Tyler led New Boston with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Cody McNutt pulled down 18 rebounds.

New Boston 5 9 11 16 = 41

St. Joseph 6 17 17 16 = 56

NEW BOSTON (0-1): Robert Waugh 2 0 0-1 4, Michael Salisbury 1 1 0-2 5, Cody McNutt 2 0 0-2 4, Josh Tyler 4 0 6-8 14, Nathaniel Henson 1 0 1-2 3, Brandon Gunnell 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Delotell 0 1 0-3 3, Steven Russell 2 0 2-2 6, Cody Delotell 0 0 2-4 2, Jerry Shaffer 0 0 0-4 0. Totals: 14-52 11-28 41. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Waugh (3rd 1:13, Salisbury (4th 0:47). 3-point goals: 2-15. Rebounds: 13-38=51 (McNutt 18, Tyler 17). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 2. Steals: 4 (Salisbury 3). Turnovers: 23.

ST. JOSEPH (1-0): Payton Blair 5 0 7-8 17, Chad Harvey 8 1 4-8 23, Joey Basedow 0 0 2-2 2, T.J. Young 1 0 3-4 5, Caleb Blackburn 1 0 1-2 3, Joseph Unger 0 0 1-2 1, Tanner Riley 0 0 0-0 0, Pat Gagai 2 0 0-0 4, George McCown 0 0 1-3 1. Totals: 18-57 18-29 56. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Blackburn (4th 2:02). 3-point goals: 1-16. Rebounds: 13-29=42 (Unger 13, Harvey 8, Blair 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 3 (Gagai 2). Steals: 10 (Gagai 5). Turnovers: 10.