Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE — St. Joseph head coach Chris Barnes might want to do a genealogy search and see if Jack Frost was Irish. He might just be related to Flyers’ junior guard Matt Sheridan.
Barnes refers to Sheridan as “Matty Ice” which might mean his pseudo name could be Matt Frost after he scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Flyers comeback win over the Coal Grove Hornets on Saturday.
“I told Matty Ice we needed a big game from him and he has a career-high plus a bunch of steals and assists. I wonder what he would have done if I said we need a great game,” said Barnes with a laugh.
“But it was a good team effort. J.C. and Jared were strong on the boards and both Jimmy and Jackson had good games.”
Besides Sheridan, Jimmy Mahlmeister and Jackson Rowe scored 14 points each as the duo combined for five 3-pointers. J.C. Damron and Jared Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds each.
Coal Grove — playing without leading scorer Tait Matney — struggled with its shooting in the second half.
Braxton Horn had 13 points, Malachi Wheeler 11 points and Trevor Hankins 10 points as three players were in double figures for the Hornets (5-5). Hunter Staton and Perry Kingery just missed double figures with 9 points each.
Coal Grove led 17-11 after the first quarter as six different players scored including 3-pointers by Staton and Hankins.
Mahlemister scored 7 points including a 3-pointer and Sheridan added a trifecta to keep the Flyers within striking distance.
The Hornets opened up a 38-27 lead just before halftime when Johnson hit a big 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 38-30 at the break.
Sheridan then made a driving layup, Rowe came up with a steal and fed Sheridan for a layup, Damron had a tip-in and Sheridan’s third layup tied the game. Damron then hit a 10-footer as the Flyers went up 42-40 at the 2:36 mark for their first lead since 2-0.
Kingery’s layup at the 1:23 mark tied the game but Rowe answered with a trey. Staton’s layup made it 47-44 to end the quarter.
Horn drained a triple to start the fourth quarter and tie the game, but Johnson and Damron came back with trifectas of their own as the Flyers took the lead for good at 53-47.
Rowe hit an 18-footer and a 3-pointer before Staton ended the 11-0 run with a layup.
Hankins sank two foul shots and Jarren Hicks had a layup to make it 58-53 with 1:29 left.
But the Hornets were forced to foul and Mahlmeister was 4-of-4 and Rowe 3-of-4 at the line to negate baskets by Horn and Elijah Dillon and a 3-pointer by Hankins with eight seconds left.
And, of course, Sheridan went 2-for-2 at the line three seconds later to ice the win.
On Tuesday, Coal Grove goes to Gallipolis and St. Joseph visits Portsmouth Notre Dame.
St. Joseph 11 19 17 20 = 67
Coal Grove 17 21 6 16 = 60
ST. JOSEPH (7-3): Jackson Rowe 1 3 3-4 14, Will Whaley 0 0 0-0 0, Matthew Sheridan 9 1 3-3 24, J.C. Damron 2 1 1-4 8, Jared Johnson 0 2 0-0 6, Michael Mahlmeister 0 0 1-2 1, Jimmy Mahlmeister 2 2 4-4 14, Max Weber 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9 12-17 67. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
COAL GROVE (5-5): Malachi Wheeler 2 0 2-2 6, Jarren Hicks 4 0 3-4 11, Trevor Hankins 1 2 2-2 10, Hunter Staton 2 1 2-2 9, Elijah Dillon 1 0 0-0 2, Braxton Horn 2 3 0-0 13, Perry Kingery 3 1 0-0 9. Totals: 15 7 9-10 60. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Wheeler (1:05 4th).