Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Playing a mid-afternoon game must have caused some confusion on the starting time for the St. Joseph Flyers.
In a game that started around 4:30 p.m., the Flyers didn’t get their game started for another 45 minutes.
Down one point at the half, St. Joseph outscored the Northwest Mohawks by 22 points in the second half and rolled to a 55-34 win on senior night.
“We missed some easy looks in the first half. Some of them were point blank,” said Flyers’ coach Rex Cooksey.
“Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. I thought we played well for four quarters. We held them to single digits in three quarters. When we started to hit some shots, we started to pull away.”
Chase Walters scored 20 points, Zach Roach had 13 points including three 3-pointers and Clay Willis scored 12 points as the Flyers (16-6) placed three players in double figures.
Mason Campbell had nine points with Kyle Leslie and Kaleb Smith adding eight each for Northwest.
The game was tied 11-11 at the end of the first quarter with Roach knocking down a trey and scored five points while Willis had four points.
Kaleb Smith had a pair of 3-pointer and Mason Campbell hit another triple for the Mohawks.
Four points by Campbell helped the Mohawks take a 19-18 halftime lead. McDavid had a bomb from behind the arc and scored five of the Flyers’ seven points.
But the Flyers took control of the game in the third quarter by outscoring Northwest 21-7 to grab a 39-26 lead.
Walters led the surge with nine points including 3-of-3 from the line. Roach drained a pair of trifectas and Willis had six points in the scoring outburst.
The Flyers converted 8-of-10 from the foul line. Isaac Whaley was 3-of-4, Joey McDavid was 2-of-2 and Roach 2-of-3. Walters scored seven points including a foul shot.
Cooksey said it was been a pleasure to coach seniors Walters, Willis, McDavid and Bryson Canter.
“They’ve been a great bunch of seniors. I’ve been blessed. I’ve coached a lot of kids and been through a lot of seniors. Last year’s group was a good group. This bunch has been excellent role models,” said Cooksey.
St. Joseph will play Green at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Northwest High School in the Division IV sectional tournament.
Northwest    11    8    7    8    =    34
St. Joseph    11    7    21    16    =    55
NORTHWEST (NA): Billy Crabtree 2 0 0-0 4, Evan Throckmorton 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Campbell 3 1 0-0 9, Tyler Webb 0 0 1-2 1, Braden Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Chase McClay 0 0 0-0 0, Braden Borens 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Leslie 4 0 0-0 8, Hunter Berry 1 0 2-2 4, Kaleb Smith 1 2 0-0 8, Brandon Hobbs 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 3 3-4 34. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (16-6): Isaac Whaley 0 0 3-4 3, Zach Roach 1 3 2-3 13, Clay Willis 5 0 2-4 12, Joey McDavid 1 1 2-2 7, Chase Walters 8 0 4-4 20, Jimmy Mahlmeister 0 0 0-0 0, J.C. Damron 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson Rowe 0 0 0-0 0, Max Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Bryson Canter 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Wilds 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 4 13-17 55. Fouls: 6. Fouled out: None.