By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

The St. Joseph Flyers are beginning to leave the starting gate on time.

In four games this season, the Flyers are 2-2 after a 61-35 win over the Coal Grove Hornets Friday night. In each game, how the Flyers started had a direct bearing on the outcome.

“In the four years I’ve been here, coming out and playing well the first quarter has been a problem,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams.

“In our two wins we have jumped out the first quarter. In our two losses, we fell behind and had to fight so hard just to get back in the game we didn’t have anything left at the end.”

St. Joseph started Friday’s game with a 12-0 run and led 16-2 at the end of the quarter. The lead ballooned to 37-9 by halftime and the Flyers coasted in the second half.

The “coasting” bothered Williams. The Flyers were 8 of 19 from the field in the second half and committed 10 of their 17 turnovers.

“I wasn’t happy with that and the way we shot foul shots. We weren’t focused. We were in a hurry on defense to get back on offense. We Tanner Riley helped fuel the fast start with 15 of his 18 points in the first half. He also had six rebounds and three assists.

A big key to the Flyers’ win was a 22 of 43 shooting performance for 51 percent. Coal Grove was just 11 of 39 for 28 percent and committed 23 turnovers.

Rye Goodwin led the Hornets (0-2) with 15 points — 13 in the second half.

The Flyers got off to their fast start as Riley hit a pair of trifectas, Payton Blair had back-to-back steals for layups and Eli Lewis dropped in a layup off a pass from Riley.

Coal Grove didn’t score until Goodwin’s 15-footer at the 2:46 mark.

St. Joseph led by 30 points on three different occasions in the second quarter.

Coal Grove 2 7 10 16 = 35

St. Joseph 16 21 6 18 = 61

COAL GROVE (0-2): Rye Goodwin 5-11 4-4 15, Jacob Pauley 0-5 0-0 0, Bryan Jenkins 2-5 3-4 7, Colton Bryant 1-4 2-2 4, Conor Markins 1-4 2-3 5, Boo Woods 0-5 0-0 0, Austin Barker 1-3 0-0 2, Cam Rowe 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Barrett 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 11-39 11-13 35. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Woods (4th 4:36, Barrett 4th 2:03). 3-point goals: 2-12 (Goodwin 1-4, Pauley 0-3, Jenkins 0-1, Markins 1-2, Woods 0-1, Rowe 0-1). Rebounds: 5 offense, 16 defense = 21 (Jenkins 9). Team/dead ball rebounds: 3. Assists: 3 (Woods 2). Steals: 8 (Goodwin 2, Jenkins 2). Turnovers: 23.

SAINT JOSEPH (2-2): Payton Blair 2-2 1-2 5, Eli Lewis 2-4 0-0 4, Tanner Riley 5-12 6-8 18, Justin Mahlmeister 3-5 1-6 8, T.J. Young 3-3 2-4 8, Cody Blackburn 3-10 0-1 6, Ike Palmer 3-5 2-2 9, Zack Dalton 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Haas 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Geswein 1-1 0-0 3, Lane Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-43 12-23 61. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-16 (Riley 2-6, Mahlmeister 1-2, Blackburn 0-3, Palmer 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Geswein 1-1). Rebounds: 8 offense, 20 defense = 28 (Mahlmeister 7, Riley 6, Young 5, Blackburn 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 7 (Riley 3, Blair 2, Blackburn 2). Steals: 12 (Blair 3). Turnovers: 17.