Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

First things first.
In the first game of the new Parish Life Center gym, the St. Joseph Flyers were a little too quick the first few times down the floor.
Once the Flyers settled down, they raced to a 75-52 win over the Rose Hill Royals on Friday.
“The first shot isn’t always the best shot. Even though we want to get people to play fast and we want to play fast, we’ve still got to understand that we need to be a little more disciplined on shot selection,” said Flyers’ first-year head coach Chris Barnes.
“The first two or three minutes we were going all spastic. This was a fantastic opener, boys and girls. At home, that’s the worst we’ve shot as far as scrimmages. We can play a lot better than that. We just need to calm down and play a little smarter defensively.”
One thing the Flyers did play was as a team. Always looking for the open man, the Flyers had 10 assists and just nine turnovers.
The team play produce four players in double figures with Zach Roach scoring 16, Ryan Payne and J.C. Damron 15 each and Isaac Whaley had 13.
The Flyers were 28-of-59 from the field for 47 percent.
“I said 10 to 12 turnovers at that pace is a lot, but the turnovers weren’t our problem. We took a bunch of first quick shots and I told them afterwards that if we would have passed two or three times and cut, we scored 75 and we could have had 90,” said Barnes.
Ryan Wirzfeld hit a 3-pointer for Rose Hill at the 7:37 mark, but Roach made a layup off a pass from Whaley at the 6:39 mark and then drained a trifecta to give the Flyers the lead for good at 5-3 with 6:11 on the clock.
A layup by Jimmy Mahlmeister at the buzzer put the Flyers up 20-16.
Damron made two foul shots to start the second quarter. Roach then converted a three-point play and hit a layup while Jackson Rowe drained a 3-pointer and the Flyers were up 30-16 with 4:51 left in the half.
Matt Sheridan’s triple and a steal and layup by Payne opened up a 35-18 lead. The Royals outscored the Flyers 6-2 over the final 1:52 and cut the deficit to 38-27.
Rose Hill was down 46-36 with 4:24 to go in the third quarter, but the Flyers went on a 10-0 run as Roach scored six points and the lead was 56-36.
In the fourth quarter, St. Joseph scored 10 unanswered points to lead 66-40 with 5:15 to play and sealed the win in the debut of their new home.
“It was a great opener and I’m proud of them. It’s been 40 some years and to have a place like this, God has blessed them.”
Stephan Barker had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Royals (0-2). Kenny Wilburn scored a team-high 18 points and had six rebounds.
St. Joseph visits Symmes Valley on Tuesday.
Rose Hill 16 11 9 16 = 52
St. Joseph 20 18 18 19 = 75
ROSE HILL (0-2): Ryan Wirzfeld 0 1 2-2 5, Stephan Barker 6 1 2-3 17, Kenny Wilburn 7 1 1-4 18, Ryan Troghon 0 0 0-0 0, Trey Phelps 2 1 0-0 7, Chase Pennington 0 0 0-0 0, Kaden Brewer 1 1 0-0 5, Marc McDaniel 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Yates 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-61 5-9 52. 3-pt goals: 5-23. Rebounds: 20-O, 20-D = 40 (Barker 10, Brewer 10, Wilburn 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 5 (Barker 2). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Wirzfeld (4th 5:15), Barker (4th 2:34).
ST. JOSEPH (1-0): Isaac Whaley 4 1 2-2 13, Zach Roach 5 1 3-3 16, Ryan Payne 5 0 5-7 15, J.C. Damron 5 0 5-6 15, Jimmy Mahlmeister 3 0 0-0 6, Matt Sheridan 1 1 0-0 5, Jackson Rowe 1 1 0-0 5, Max Weber 1 0 0-0 2, Jared Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Mike Mahlmeister 0 0 0-2 0. Totals: 28-59 15-21 75. 3-pt goals: 4-19. Rebounds: 12-O, 26-D = 38 (Damron 9, J. Mahlmeister 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Assists: 11 (Whaley 3, Payne 3, Sheridan 2, Damron 2). Steals: 8 (Whaley 2, Damron 2, J. Mahlmeister 2). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.