Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The alarm went off a little earlier than usual on Saturday morning for the St. Joseph Flyers. And even though they crawled out of bed, it appeared as though they were still half asleep.
The Flyers didn’t seem to be fully awake through the first half of their noon tip-off against the Sciotoville East Tartans, but woke up in the second half and cruised to an 87-34 Southern Ohio Conference win.
“They probably aren’t used to getting up until 1 o’clock and we started at noon,” said Flyers’ coach Chris Barnes with a chuckle.
“We had a little serious talk at halftime just to calm them down. It was about 1 o’clock by the time we started the second half so we woke up.”
After a poor first half of shooting including a dismal first quarter, St. Joseph shot the lights out in the second half.
The Flyers were just 9-of-27 from the field in the first quarter as they missed 12 shots at point blank range. They were 11-of-19 in the second quarter but then came out firing in the second half.
St. Joseph made 20-of-34 attempts in the second half including 9-of-15 from behind the arc for 60 percent. The Flyers shot 48.7 percent for the game from the field.
J.C. Damron had 23 points and 11 rebounds to pace the Flyers (10-5, 7-4) while Jared Johnson had a strong game with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Jimmy Mahlmeister had 11 points and 5 rebounds while Jackson Rowe had 12 points on four 3-pointers to go with 4 steals. Matt Sheridan added 8 points, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Landehn Pernell scored 8 points for East.
The lead changed hands four times early with East up 5-4 before Damron followed up his own shot to make it 6-5 and the Flyers never trailed again.
A layup by Sheridan and a steal and layup by Mahlmeister put the lead at 12-7. Mahlemister’s baseline shot and Damron’s tip-in of his own shot put the Flyers up 18-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Leading 24-12 early in the second quarter, the Flyers went on a 15-4 run to lead 37-16. East got a foul shot by Pernell and a basket by Keagan Jackson just before the buzzer to make it 37-19 at the half.
Rowe gave an ominous start to the second half as he drained a pair of 3-pointers. Johnson then had a layup and Darmon an 18-footer for a 47-19 lead.
Austin Baughman’s foul shot halted the 10-0 run but Damron’s layup, Mahlmeister’s 8-footer, Johnson’s putback and Mahlmeister’s trifecta blew the game wide-open at 56-30.
Will Whaley came off the bench to hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter as the Flyers led 64-30.
Elijah Rowe came off the bench to hit two more triples for the Flyers as he outscored the Tartans who managed just 4 points in the fourth quarter.
The Flyers host Portsmouth Notre Dame on Wednesday and Leesburg Fairfield at 7 p.m. Saturday in the sectional tournament.
Sciotoville 10 9 11 4 = 34
St. Joseph 18 19 27 25 = 87
SCIOTOVILLE EAST (0-12, 0-10): Levi Justice 0 0 3-4 3, Kellen Gray 1 0 0-0 2Austin Baughman 2 0 2-3 6, Devin Allard 1 1 0-0 5, Matt Flannery 0 0 0-0 0, Keegan Jackson 12 0 0-0 2, Landehn Pernell 3 0 2-3 8, Tyler Baker 0 0 0-0 0, Jaylon Mayhew 3 0 0-0 6, Cam Justice 0 0 0-0 0, Gavin Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Ethan Rase 1 0 0-0 2, Zach Duncan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 1 7-10 34. Turnovers: 30. Fouls: 3. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (10-5, 7-4): Jackson Rowe 0 4 0-0 12, Will Whaley 0 2 0-0 6, Matt Sheridan 4 0 0-0 8, J.C. Damron 9 1 2-4 23, Jared Johnson 6 0 0-0 12, Michael Mahlmeister 1 0 0-0 2, Jimmy Mahlmeister 4 1 0-0 11, Max Weber 2 0 0-0 4, Jacob Salisbury 1 0 1-2 3, Elijah Rowe 0 2 0-0 6, Dru Canter 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Brown 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 37-76 3-6 87. 3-pt goals: 10-26. Rebounds: 23-O, 20-D = 43 (Damron 11, J. Johnson 11, J. Mahlmeister 5, Weber 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 10 (Sheridan 5). Steals: 22 (J. Rowe 4, Weber 3, Sheridan 3). Blocks: 3 (Weber, Damron, M. Mahlmeister). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.