Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Who said layups were easy shots to make?

The St. Joseph Flyers struggled to make layups in a 52-49 loss to the Raceland Rams on Tuesday.

The Flyers made just 16 of 49 field goal attempts for 32.7 percent. They did convert 15 of 20 free throws attempts due mainly to Justin Mahlmeister who was 11 of 11 at the line en route to a 27-point performance.

“We missed a lot of easy shots,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams. “We hit some free throws, but we missed too many easy layups.”

Eli Lewis added 11 points and a pair of blocked shots for the Flyers (4-7). Mahlmeister had 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots. Troy Scott added 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

Connor Messer scored 22 points — 17 in the first half — and Zack Kelley 14 for Raceland (6-7).

Mahlmeister scored 9 points as St. Joseph outscored the Rams 17-15.

Scott had 5 points to match Messer’s 5 points and St. Joseph was up 28-27 at the half.

The Rams outscored St. Joseph 12-10 in the third quarter to tie the game at 39-39. Mahlmeister had all of the Flyers’ 10 points.

The Flyers took a 7-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but they got in foul trouble and the Rams rallied to take the lead. Mahlmeister had 6 of the Flyers’ 10 points in the quarter.

Raceland 15 12 12 12 = 52

St. Joseph 17 12 10 10 = 49

RACELAND (6-7): Connor Messer 8 1 3-6 22, Josh Young 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Waddell 3 0 0-2 6, Aaron Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Max Dixon 1 0 0-0 2, David Pennington 2 0 0-0 4, Zack Kelley 1 3 3-4 14, Taylor Morris 2 0 0-1 4, Tristan Brown 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 4 6-13 52. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (4-7): Hunter Pemberton 0 0 0-0 0, Grant Geswein 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, Troy Scott 3 0 2-3 8, Eli Lewis 5 0 1-4 11, Joseph Payton 0 0 1-2 1, Justin Mahlmeister 5 2 11-11 27, Lane Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-49 15-20 49. 3-point goals: 2-14. Rebounds: 24 (Mahlmeister 5, Scott 5). Assists: 7 (Mahlmeister 4). Steals: 3 (Scott 2). Blocked shots: 5 (Mahlmeister 3, E. Lewis 2). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.