By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

Justin Mahlmeister might be doing an AT&T commercial soon. He seems to love dialing long-distance.

Mahlmeister hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the St. Joseph Flyers a thrilling 66-65 win over the Wellston Golden Rockets on Tuesday.

The 3-pointer was his eighth of the game and gave his a career-high 41 points. He also had 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocked shots.

“Justin had a monster game,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams. “Wellston is a very talented team. In games like that in the past we might have folded, but this group rose to the challenge.”

Eli Lewis scored 13 points for the Flyers (9-6) while Ike Palmer added 6 points and 8 assists.

Justus Ousley scored 26 points and Nigel Courts 19 for the Golden Rockets (8-5).

Wellston went up 18-11 at the end of the first quarter. Mahlmeister and Lewis combined for 9 of the Flyers’ points.

Mahlmeister heated up in the second quarter and scored 13 points as St. Joseph rallied to take a 30-24 led at the break.

Mahlmeister drained three straight trifectas in the third quarter and his layup at the end of the quarter gave him 16 points in the stanza as the Flyers extended their lead to 51-40.

But the Flyers were guilty of a flurry of turnovers in the fourth quarter allowing the Rockets to rally.

Wellston took a 59-58 lead and led 65-63 only to miss the front end of a one-and-one. Grant Geswein got the rebound and threw to Mahlmeister who stop just shy of the top of the key and drained his game-winning shot with two seconds left.

“We tried to give it away at the end. We started throwing the ball all over the gym. I told them to run the offense because we were getting the shots we wanted,” said Williams.

Mahlmeister’s 41 points fell 9 shy of the school record held by his grandfather Jim Mahlmeister.

Wellston 18 6 16 25 = 65

St. Joseph 11 19 21 15 = 66

WELLSTON (8-5): Colton Ervin 0 0 0-0 0, Andrew Richards 0 0 0-0 0, Dakota Brown 1 12-2 7, Nigel Courts 7 0 5-9 19, Ernest Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Justus Ousley 7 3 3-4 26, Austin Craig 1 0 0-1 2, Blake Warrington 2 1 2-2 9. Totals: 24-43 12-18 65. 3-point goals: 5-9. Rebounds: 17 (Court 9). Assists: 3. Steals: 8 (Craig 4). Blocked shots: 3 (Courts 3). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

SAINT JOSESPH (9-6): Grant Geswein 0 0 0-0 0, Ike Palmer 2 0 2-4 6, Joseph Payton 0 0 0-0 0, Zack Dalton 2 0 0-0 4, Eli Lewis 6 0 1-3 13, Justin Mahlmeister 7 8 3-5 41, Troy Scott 1 0 0-0 2, Lane Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-54 6-12 66. 3-point goals: 8-17. Rebounds: 27 (Mahlmeister 8, Lewis 6). Assists: 17 (Palmer 8, Mahlmeister 4). Steals: 4 (Scott 2). Blocked shots: 3 (Mahlmeister 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Dalton.