Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The St. Joseph Flyers seem to be liking this winning thing.
The Flyers’ first winning season was 1950 and they had a school-record 21 wins in 1951 followed by a 17-5 season.
The next most wins were 14 in 1999 and 15-7 three years ago.
This season’s team has joined the winning history with a 16-5 record after beating the Portsmouth Clay Panthers 63-50 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Friday.
“We’re 16-5 and we’ll take it. It wouldn’t have been so close if we make our free throws. But this is a tough and competitive league,” said Flyers’ coach Chris Barnes after his team went just 16-of-30 at the foul line.
“Ryan (Payne) and J.C. (Damron) are hot right now. Zach (Roach) is starting to click again and our effort from everyone has been tremendous. I’ve very proud of this team.”
Payne scored 23 points, Damron 15 and Roach 12 to lead the Flyers.
Shaden Malone had 21 points and Reece Whitley 10 for Clay (7-14, 6-8).
St. Joseph led 12-10 after the first quarter as Roach scored 4 points. Malone had 6 for Clay.
Payne heated up in the second quarter with 10 points including a 3-pointer and 5-of-6 at the line as the Flyers pulled away to a 32-18 lead as the break.
Roach had 5 points as he and Matthew Sheridan each hit trifectas.
Malone scored 7 points as Clay cut the deficit to 47-34 after three quarters. Payne hit a 3-pointer and scored 7 points and Damron got 6 more for the Flyers.
Clay was forced to foul in the fourth quarter but the Flyers managed to convert 7-of-16 free throws and Payne hit a 3-pointer as the Flyers head on for the win. Sheridan and Roach made three free throws each.
Malone scored 8 points while Whitley and Gage Moore each made a 3-pointer.
“We have tried so hard and battled all year. I couldn’t ask for a better group of young men,” said Barnes. “Now, we get a little break and we’re thankful because there’s a good Symmes Valley team coming here next Friday that will help prepare us for tournament play.”
UP NEXT: The Flyers host Symmes Valley Friday, Feb. 21.
Ports. Clay 10 8 16 16 = 50
St. Joseph 12 20 15 16 = 63
PORTSMOUTH CLAY (7-14, 6-8): Clay Cottle 1 0 0-1 2, Shaden Malone 10 0 1-4 21, Evan Woods 1 1 1-2 6, Gavin Cayton 0 0 0-0 0, Reece Whitley 2 2 0-0 10, Landon Thomas 0 0 00 0, Nate Penn 0 0 0-0 0, Caden Cline 0 0 0-0 0, Gage Moore 0 1 2-2 5, Jaden Jessee 1 0 0-2 2, Dakota Dodds 2 0 0-0 4. Total: 17 4 4-11 50. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Cottle, Malone, Woods.
ST. JOSEPH (16-5, 9-4): Jackson Rowe 1 0 1-2 3, Matthew Sheridan 0 1 3-4 6, Zach Roach 3 1 3-5 12, Ryan Payne 4 3 6-9 23, J.C. Damron 6 0 3-6 15, Jared Johnson 0 0 0-1 0, Jimmy Mahlmeister 2 0 0-3 4, Max Weber 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5 16-30 63. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.