By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Someone go back in the locker room and see if we left our offense in there.

The St. Joseph Flyers struggled with their offense all night in a 52-36 loss to the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Monday.

The Flyers (12-9, 7-3) had trouble in the first half but managed to trail by just one point at the half. Things went from bad to worse in the second half as they only managed to score 14 points.

The Titans (17-5, 10-0) took a 7-0 lead to start the game before the Flyers got within 10-6.A 3-pointer by Brady Davis gave the Titans a 13-6 lead at the end of the quarter.

Notre Dame led 18-12 when Carter Johnson hit a pair of free throws and a layup to make it 18-14.

A 3-pointer by Myles Phillips put the Titans lead at 21-16 only to have Landon “Rocky” Rowe answer with his own trifecta for the Flyers and it was 21-19.

Aiden Deborde made a layup to get St. Joseph within 23-21 and Beckham Waginger’s free throw cut the deficit to 23-22 with 21 seconds left in the half.

Wesley Neal made a layup to start the second half as the Flyers took their only lead of the game at 24-23.

Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run to take a 32-24 lead. The Flyers’ Carson Willis made a layup to stop the run but the Titans finished the quarter by outscoring the Flyers 8-3 and took a 40-27 lead to end the quarter.

Zane “Z-Man” Dressel hit a free throw for the Flyers to start the fourth quarter but Davis and Landon Barbarits hit 3-pointers as the Titans scored 10 unanswered points capped by Barbarits layup and it was 50-28 with two minutes to play.

The Flyers were just 12 of 35 from the field for 34 percent and a meager one of 8 from the 3-point line.

Neal had 0 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for the Flyers with Rowe getting 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

Barbarits scored a game-high 16 points for the SOC-1 champion Titans. Boerger scored 10 points and Kenady McGraw added 9 points.

St. Joseph hosts Whiteoak on Thursday in the Division 7 tournament first round.

Notre Dame 13 10 17 12 = 52

St. Joseph 6 16 5 9 = 36

PORTSMOUTH NOTRE DAME (17-5, 10-0): Landon Barbarits 2 4 0-0 16, Archie West  1 0-0 2, Aaryn Bradford 0 1 2-2 5, Garrett Barbarits 1 0 0-0 2, Myles Phillips 1 2 1-2 9, Kenady McGraw 0 0 0-0 0, Zion Boerger 4 0 2-3 10, Brady West 1 2 0-0 8. Totals: 10 9 5-7 52. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (12-9, 7-3): Aiden Deborde 1 0 0-0 2, Landon Rowe 1 1 2-2 7, Mason Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Beckham Waginger 1 0 1-2 3, Wesley Neal 3 0 3-4 9, Zane Dressel 0 0 3-4 3, Carson Willis 3 0 0-0 6, Carter Johnson 2 0 2-2 6. Totals: 12-35 11-14 36. 3-pt goals: 1-8. Rebounds: 16 (Neal 6, Rowe 3). Assists: 6 (Rowe 3, Neal 2). Steals: 5 (Willis 2). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.