Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Maybe the St. Joseph Flyers need to trade for Aroldis Chapman. They just need a closer.
The Flyers had a lead in the fourth quarter once again but couldn’t close out the game as they fell 61-52 to the Southern Tornadoes on Friday.
The Flyers led by five points after three quarters when Weston Thorla got the hot hand and scored 15 points to rally Southern to the win.
“We were up most of the game and they had a kid who got smoking hot. We knew he had streak ability but we lost him a few times,” said St. Joseph coach Rex Cooksey.
“I thought we played pretty well. We were sound defensively more than two and half quarters. Offensively we were efficient. The fourth quarter we got down and had to take some threes and we had to foul.”
The loss wasted a 27-point performance by the Flyers’ Chase Walters who also had seven rebounds.
Zac McGraw added nine points and six assists for St. Joseph (9-11).
Thorla had 17 points, Tyler Blevins 13 and Crenson Rogers 11 to lead Southern (10-9).
Blevins scored five points in the first quarter to help offset four points each by McGraw and Walters as Southern took a 13-12 lead.

Walters scored five points while Zach Roach hit a 3-pointer and McGraw added three points as the Flyers took a 25-19 halftime lead.
Rogers got six points in the third quarter as the Tornadoes cut the lead to 41-36. Walters scored 10 points and Peyton Adkins added four more for the Flyers.
Walters had eight points in the fourth quarter but it couldn’t compensate for Thorla’s 15 points that included three 3-pointers.
St. Joseph was 21-of-57 from the field overall but just 1-of-14 from behind the arc. The Flyers were 20-of-43 from 2-point range for 46.5 percent.
St. Joseph hosted Portsmouth Clay on Saturday.
Southern    13    6    17    25    =    61
St. Joseph    12    13    16    11    =    52
RACINE SOUTHERN (10-9): Dylan Smith 1 0 2-2 4, Tylar Blevins 4 1 2-2 13, Blake Johnson 1 1 2-2 7, Trey McNickle 1 0 2-2 4, Weston Thorla 2 3 4-6 17, Crenson Rogers 3 1 2-2 11, Trey Pickens 0 1 2-2 5. Totals: 12 7 12-14 61. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (9-11): Isaac Whaley 0 0 4-4 4, Clay Willis 1 0 1-2 3, Zach Roach 0 1 0-0 3, Peyton Adkins 3 0 0-0 6, Zac McGraw 3 0 3-3 9, Chase Walters 12 0 3-5 27, Tre Neal 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-57 11-14 52. 3-point goals: 1-14. Rebounds: 19 (Walters 7). Assists:11 (McGraw 6). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Whaley.