By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

It was a sign of the season. Fortunately for the St. Joseph Flyers, it’s going to be a Merry Christmas.

After Sciotoville East jumped out to an 11-0 lead, the Flyers finally began to shake their jingle bells and stormed back to post a 57-44 win over the Tartans on Thursday during the first day of the fourth annual Ironton Classic.

“I don’t know if it was too much Christmas shopping the night before or sleeping in because there wasn’t any school, but we were sluggish at first,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams.

“After Justin hit that first 3-point that got us going.”

Justin Mahlmeister led the Flyers with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds. Ike Palmer and Eli Lewis scored 10 each for the Flyers (4-2).

Patrick Bias had 13 points and 9 rebounds while Justin Crager scored 12 points for East (0-5).

The Flyers defense forced East to commit 24 turnovers including 13 steals —eight by Mahlmeister.

Williams also praise Palmer for his defensive effort on Crager.

“We forced a lot of turnovers. We told them to get up in the passing lanes,” said Williams. “We only have two varsity players back. They’re learning. They’re getting better every game. I though Ike did a good job. Crager is their offense and he’s strong.”

Crager had 6 points as East took an 11-0 lead before Mahlmeister drained a 3-pointer at the 3:04 mark. A pair of layups by Palmer to close the quarter got the Flyers within 11-9.

Palmer scored with 3:17 left in the half to give the Flyers the lead for good at 19-17 and Grant Geswein’s triple moments later extended the lead to 22-17. A put-back by Lane Johnson with 13 seconds left gave the Flyers a 26-19 cushion at the half.

St. Joseph hit 9 of 16 shots in the third quarter. Lewis and Joseph Payton made layups and Mahlmeister knocked down a trifecta before the buzzer as the lead swelled to 48-28 at the end of the quarter.

The Flyers play in the Coal Grove Holiday Tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sciotoville East 11 8 9 16 = 44

St. Joseph 9 17 22 9 = 57

SCIOTOVILLE EAST (0-5): Justin Crager 3 0 6-7 12, Nathan King 3 0 0-0 6, Tyler Bradford 1 0 0-0 2, Patrick Bias 6 0 1-2 13, John Watkins 2 0 0-0 4, Chris Rittner 1 0 1-2 3, Nathan Toller 0 0 0-0 0, Hayden Russell 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 18-46 8-11 44. 3-point goals: 0-8. Rebounds: 8-24=32 (Bias 9, Crager 8). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 9 (Crager 3). Steals: 8 (Crager 2, King 2, Bradford 2, Rittner 2). Turnovers: 24. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (4-2): Grant Geswein 1 10-0 5, Ike Palmer 4 0 2-2 10, Zack Dalton 0 0 1-2 1, Eli Lewis 4 0 2-7 10, Justin Mahlmeister 5 4 1-2 23, Joseph Payton 1 0 0-0 2, Lane Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Troy Scott 2 0 0-0 4, Luke McGraw 0 0 0-0 0, Shannon Litton 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Pemberton 0 0 0-0 0, Trey Young 0 0 0-0 0, Cole Willis 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Williams 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-57 6-13 57. 3-point goals: 5-17. Rebounds: 12-21=33 (Mahlmeister 10, Dalton 5, Palmer 5, Scott 5). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 15 (Palmer 4, Lewis 3, Mahlmeister 3). Steals: 13 (Mahlmeister 8). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.