Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The Coal Grove Hornets have relied on defense in their first two games. They stayed with defense on Saturday but added a little excitement.
Trailing most of the game, the Hornets rallied in the final minutes of the game to edge the St. Joseph Flyers 51-45.
“It was a hard-fought basketball game by both teams,” said Flyers’ coach Rex Cooksey. “We made some good plays and they stepped up made some big plays at the end.”
Making some big plays for the Hornets was Elijah Roman who scored 7 points including a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter comeback. Kyle Sites and Aaron Music combined for 9 points in the quarter.
The Flyers held the lead until 2:33 was left in the game. Coal Grove tied the game at 40-40 and then outscored the Flyers 11-5 the rest of the game.
Coal Grove went on an 8-0 run to start the game and led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
St. Joseph (1-2) then clamped down on defense and outscored the Hornets 10-4 in the second quarter to lead 21-18 at the half.
Chase Walters scored 8 points and Isaac Whaley had 6 points in the third quarter and St. Joseph led 35-33.
That set the stage for the thrilling fourth quarter.
Roman and Sites scored 9 points each to lead a balanced offense for Coal Grove (2-1). Daniel Rutherford, Kyle Sites and Aaron Music scored 8 each and Jeb Jones had 7.
Walters scored a game-high 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Zac McGraw had 10 points and 8 rebounds while Whaley got 11 points and Tre Neal handed out 5 assists.
Coal Grove visits South Point on Tuesday while the Flyers host Green on Saturday.
Coal Grove    14    4    15    18    =    51
St. Joseph    11    10    14    10    =    45
COAL GROVE (2-1): Aaron Music 3 0 2-2 8, Kyle Sites 1 2 0-0 8, Daniel Rutherford 4 0 0-0 8, Mark Sites 4 0 1-4 9, Jeb Jones 3 0 1-4 7, Elijah Roman 1 1 4-4 9, Evan Gannon 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 17 3 8-14 51. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (1-2): Isaac Whaley 1 2 3-4 11, Clay Willis 2 0 0-0 4, Peyton Adkins 1 0 0-0 2, Zac McGraw 5 0 0-2 10, Tre Neal 1 0 1-2 3, Chase Walters 7 0 1-3 15. Totals: 19-42 5-11 45. 3-point goals: 2-13. Rebounds: 8-O, 19-D = 27 (McGraw 8, Walters 7). Assists: 12 (Neal 5). Steals: 2. Turnovers: 16. Fouls 14. Fouled out: None.