Flyers battle by Rockets
Published 12:54 am Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com
It was one of those “Where’s Waldo?” games.
The St. Joseph Flyers couldn’t find their shot but they finally found Waldo, a.k.a. a way to win.
The Flyers battled back from a five-point halftime deficit and converted 20-of-25 foul shots for the game as they beat the Wellston Golden Rockets 55-52 on Tuesday.
“They had a bunch of football players who wanted to make it physical. We played hard and gutted it out,” said Flyers’ coach Chris Barnes.
“We probably had our worst shooting game of the season, but we made our foul shots and that was the difference.”
J.D. Damron scored 18 points to lead three Flyers in double figures. Isaac Whaley had 13 points, Zach Roach got 11 and Matt Sheridan added nine.
“J.C. had a big game and Sheridan had another great game. Our young guys like Max Weber, Jared Johnson and Jimmy Mahlmeister made nice contributions,” said Barnes.
Hunter Smith scored 14 points, Brice Randolph had nine and R.J. Kemp eight for the Rockets who were 12-of-25 at the foul line.
Kemp had seven points as Wellston took a 13-6 first quarter lead.
Wellston (3-13) led 25-18 at the half as Jordan Carey and Randolph hit 3-pointers in the second quarter. Damron hit his own 3-pointer and scored 10 points.
The Flyers outscored the Rockets 16-7 in the third quarter to take a 34-32 lead. Sheridan and Damron had four points each while Whaley hit a trifecta.
The fourth quarter was dominated by free throws as the Flyers made 12-of-13 and Wellston 4-of-8.
Whaley hit a trey and 5-of-5 at the line as he scored 10 points in the quarter, Sheridan was 3-of-4 and both Roach and Damron had a field goal and were 2-of-2 at the line.
Smith scored 10 points while Rylan Molihan and Randolph each hit 3-pointers.
St. Joseph visits River Valley on Wednesday and hosts Ohio Valley Christian on Friday.
Wellston 13 12 7 20 = 52
St. Joseph 6 12 16 21 = 55
WELLSTON (3-13): Rylan Molihan 1 1 0-2 5, Jordan Carey 0 1 1-2 4, R.J. Kemp 3 0 2-3 8, Hunter Smith 4 0 6-10 14, Brice Randolph 1 2 1-2 9, Josh Bodey 2 0 1-2 5, Cole Broaddus 0 0 0-0 0, Donnie Walters 3 0 1-4 7. Totals: 14 4 12-25 52. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Carey.
ST. JOSEPH (13-5): Isaac Whaley 1 2 5-5 13, Zach Roach 3 0 5-6 11, Jimmy Mahlmeister 2 0 0-2 4, Max Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Jared Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Mahlmeister 0 0 0-0 0, J.C. Damron 4 1 7-8 18, Matt Sheridan 3 0 3-4 9. Totals: 13 3 20-25 55. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Mahlmeister.