The St. Joseph Flyers played a lot.

No, this is no simple beginning for a Dr. Seuss book but a quick description of Saturday’s game as the Flyers played a lot of defense and a lot of players in shutting down the Portsmouth Clay Panthers 55-40 in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

The Flyers established their defense early as Michael Mahlmeister and Wesley Neal scored 4 points each and the Flyers went up 14-7 in the first quarter.

The defense remained stingy in the second quarter as the Flyers limited Clay to just 6 points and took a 24-13 lead at the break.

Kai Coleman hit a 3-pointer and scored 5 points in the Flyers’ patient offense.

St. Joseph (7-7, 5-5) extended its lead to 39-25 after three quarters as Chucky McCloud hit a triple and scored 5 points, Neal was 4-for-4 at the foul line and Coleman added 4 points.

Evan Balestra scored 7 points including a 3-pointer for Clay in the quarter.

The Panthers began to foul in the fourth quarter and Coleman converted 3-of-6 while Elijah Rowe drained a trifecta and scored 5 points for the Flyers.

Gavin Cayton and Kenny Fowler had 4 points each in the quarter for Clay.

Coleman scored 16 points and Neal had 12 to lead the Flyers. Mahlmeister and McCloud added 9 points each.

Balestra scored 13 for Clay (1-18, 1-11).

Ports. Clay   7   6  12  15  =  40

St. Joseph   14  10  15  16  =  55

PORTSMOUTH CLAY: (1-18, 1-11): Brandon Malone 0 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Whitt 0 0 0-0 0, Gavin Cayton 1 0 2-2 4, Evan Balestra 4 1 2-4 13, Jack Holbrook 3 0 1-2 7, Cullen Payne 0 1 0-0 3, Kenny Fowler 1 0 2-2 4, Malachi Loper 2 1 2-2 9, Mitchell King 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 3 9-12 40. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Fowler.

ST. JOSEPH: (7-7, 5-5): Brady Medinger 0 0 0-0 0, Kai Coleman 5 1 3-6 16, Wesley Neal 4 0 4-6 12, Landon Rowe 2 0 0-1 4, Michael Mahlmeister 4 0 1-6 9, Elijah Rowe 1 1 0-0 5, Aiden DeBoard 0 0 0-0 0, Chucky McCloud 3 1 0-0 9, Zachary Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Eli Ford 0 0 0-0 0, Matthew Heighton 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 3 8-19 55. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: McCloud.