Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The holidays. Time for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, family get-togethers, shopping, singing Christmas carols and basketball.

Yes, basketball. And the St. Joseph Flyers are getting their basketball fix in for Christmas week with their holiday tournament.

And the Flyers celebrated their tournament with a 54-39 win over the Rose Hill Royals in the semifinals on Thursday.

Wayne beat Covenant 52-28 in the first game to set up the championship game between St. Joseph and Wayne at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.

The girls’ side of the tournament will be Friday with Rock Hill and Lucasville Valley at 5:15 followed by unbeaten St. Patrick and host St. Joseph.

Consolation games begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with the girls’ game followed by the girls’ title game and then the boys’ consolation game and championship contest.

The Flyers wanted to make sure they reached the title game as they jumped in front 15-9 in the first quarter as Coleman score6 points, Zachary Johnson had 4 more and Wesley Neal drained a triple.

Christian Blevins made a 3-pointer and had 4 points while Collin Wilburn added 3 points in the quarter for the Royals.

St. Joseph (3-3) opened up a 31-15 halftime cushion as Coleman had 8 points with Michael Mahlmeister and Johnson scored 4 points each.

Wilburn had another 3-pointer.

The Flyers extended the lead to 46-27 after three quarters as Drew Brown went 4-for-4 at the foul line, Coleman and Mahlmeister had 4 points each and Elijah Rowe drained a trifecta.

Blevins made another 3-pointers and scored 5 points and Luke Pennington added 4 points in the third quarter for the Royals.

Landon Rowe buried a 3-pointer and Elijah Rowe and Drew Brown both had baskets as the Flyers got just 8 points in the quarter as the started to empty their bench.

Pennington had 5 points including a 3-pointer and Wilburn hit a trey for the Royals (0-7).

Coleman scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Flyers. Mahlmeister had 10 points with Johnson and Brown getting 8 points each.

Wilburn and Pennington had 11 points each and Blevins 9 points for the Royals.

Flyers first-year coach Jacob Wells missed the game due to the flu and a temperature of 103 degrees.

Assistant coach Bobby Evans filled in and got the win.

Rose Hill 9 6 12 12 = 39

St. Joseph 15 16 15 8 = 54

ROSE HILL (0-7): Luke Pennington 4 1 0-1 11, Christian Blevins 0 2 3-4 9, Chase Pennington 3 0 1-2 7, Collin Wilburn 2 2 1-4 11, Benton Rucker 0 0 0-0 0, Cody Hensley 0 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Crawford 0 0 1-2 1, Allan Boss 0 0 0-0 0, Noah Daniels 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 56-13 39. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (3-3): Brady Medinger 0 0 0-0 0, Kai Coleman 8 0 3-5 19, Wesley Neal 0 1 0-0 3, Landon Rowe 0 1 0-0 3, Michael Mahlmeister 5 0 0-0 10, Elijah Rowe 1 1 0-0 5, Aiden DeBoard 0 0 0-0 0, Dru Canter 0 0 0-0 0, Zachary Johnson 4 0 0-1 8, Drew Brown 1 0 4-4 8. Totals: 15 3 7-10 54. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

Flyers Holiday Tournament

Thursday, Dec. 16

Boys’ Semifinals

Wayne, W.Va. vs. Covenant, 5:30

Rose Hill vs. St. Joseph, 7:30

Friday, Dec. 17

Girls’ Semifinals

Rock Hill vs. Lucasville Valley, 5:30

St. Patrick vs. St. Joseph, 7:30

Saturday, Dec. 18

Girls’ Consolation, 10 a.m.

Girls’ championship, 11:45 a.m.

Boys’ consolation, 1:30 p.m.

Boys’ championship, 3:15 p.m.