Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The St. Joseph Flyers get a quality education from their curriculum, but there is one thing they haven’t been taught how to do.

Quit.

Despite falling behind by 21 points at the half, the Flyers battled back only to fall shy of their comeback goal in a 65-59 loss to the Eastern Eagles on Tuesday.

Josh Thacker and Ethan Leist combined for 32 first-half points as Eastern built what the Eagles thought was a comfortable 42-21 lead.

But the Flyers outscored Eastern 17-10 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 52-38.

The Flyers continue to battle back as they out-pointed Eastern 21-13 in the fourth quarter only to fall just short as Thacker converted five free throws down the stretch.

Senior Wulf Goheen scored 19 points including four 3-pointers to lead the Flyers on senior night.

Sophomore Zac McGraw added 11 points and senior Zack Kelly had 9 points on three 3-point goals for St. Joseph (10-10).

Thacker finished with 24 pointers for Eastern (15-4) and Leist had 20.

St. Joseph visits Sciotoville East on Saturday.

Eastern 18 24 10 13 = 65

St. Joseph 13 8 17 21 = 59

BEAVER EASTERN (15-4): Trace Creech 4 0 0 8, Garrett Fitch 2 0 0 4, Brennan Bobst 2 0 1 5, Ben Hesson 0 0 4 4, Ethan Leist 7 2 0 20, Josh Thacker 4 2 10 24. Totals: 19 4 15 65.

ST. JOSEPH (10-10): Wulf Goheen 3 4 1 19, Kyle Williams 1 1 0 5, Chris Lewis 1 0 0 2, Troy Scott 3 0 1 7, Zac McGraw 3 1 2 11, Zack Kelly 0 3 0 9, Tyler Ward 1 0 0 2, Ben McDonald 2 0 0 4. Totals: 14 9 4 59.