Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

WILLOW WOOD — They Symmes Valley Vikings did their best impersonation of magician David Copperfield.

The Vikings were leading by 10 points at halftime, but their offense vanished in the second half as the St. Joseph Flyers rallied for a 61-58 win Saturday.

“We disappeared the second half. I don’t know where we went,” said Vikings’ coach Donnie Saunders.

“St. Joe played pretty good in the first quarter and we came out the second quarter and took control of the game. It was St. Joe after that. They did a nice job. They fought us tooth and nail.”

The Flyers (7-5) paid no attention to any slight of hand tricks as they outscored the Vikings 30-17 in the second half to get the win.

“Symmes Valley is a good team. They’ve played pretty well so far this year. But we came out playing real well and executed our offense. The second quarter we stopped doing what was successful and we stopped playing defense,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams.

“The second half we made some adjustments and only gave up 17 points. I was real happy with that. Everyone who played just battled to the end.”

St. Joseph took a 19-16 first quarter lead as Wulf Goheen scored seven points to match seven points by the Vikings’ Dylan Malone.

Jonathan Kouns scored nine points in the second quarter as the Vikings erupted for 25 points to take a 41-31 halftime lead.

Troy Scott scored seven points and Goheen had six in the third quarter as the Flyers cut the deficit to 52-45. Tyler Rowe scored eight points in the quarter for the Vikings.

The Flyers were 7-of-14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, but Joseph Payton was 3-of-4 after the Vikings cut the lead to one.

Goheen scored six points in the quarter.

Goheen led the Flyers with 23 points and six rebounds. Scott scored 16 and Hunter Pemberton added 11. Chris Lewis grabbed eight rebounds.

Rowe led the Vikings with 16 points and eight rebounds. Malone had 12 points and five rebounds while Kouns scored 11 — all in the first half.

In the reserve game, the Vikings won 61-18 as Zach Dial scored 19. Joey Bush had six for the Flyers.

St. Joseph 19 12 14 16 = 61

Sym. Valley 16 25 11 6 = 58

ST. JOSEPH (7-5): Hunter Pemberton 1 2 3-9 11, Wulf Goheen 10 1 0-0 23, Judge Williams 0 2 2-3 8, Chris Lewis 0 0 0-2 0, Troy Scott 5 1 3-7 16, Joseph Payton 0 0 3-4 3. Totals: 22-49 11-25 61. 3-point goals: 6-22. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: Lewis. Rebounds: 23 (Lewis 8, Goheen 6). Assists: 4. Steals: 11 (Pemberton 3). Blocked shots: 1 (Pemberton). Turnovers: 7.

SYMMES VALLEY (7-4): Dylan Malone 4 1 1-2 12, Seth Jarrell 0 0 0-0 0, Kurt Adams 0 3 0-1 9, Jonathon Kouns 4 1 0-0 11, Jacob Klaiber 1 0 1-2 3, Tyler Rowe 5 1 3-4 16, Ryan Gibson 2 1 0-0 7. Totals: 23-39 5-9 58. 3-point goals: 7-13. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 20 (Rowe 8, Malone 5). Assists: 2. Steals: 3. Blocked shots: 2 (Malone 2). Turnovers: 18.