It's been said that it always gets the darkest before it gets light. Things were getting pretty dark Friday night for the St. Joseph Flyers.

Down by 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Flyers rallied to beat the Coal Grove Hornets 60-53.

St. Joseph trailed 52-42 with six minutes to play, then went on an 18-1 run to finish the game and rally for their its first win of the season.

"Our kids just didn't quit," Flyers coach Adam Simpson said. "When (point guard) Danny Stack fouled out with about four minutes to go, it was looking pretty bad. But our kids just kept playing hard. I still can't believe it."

The game was tied at 53-53 when Shawn Hacker scored to put the Flyers up from good. St. Joseph scored 12 points over the final two minutes to seal the win.

"(Chris) Laber and (Matt) Hornbeck made some big free throws down the stretch, and Shawn and Chris grabbed about every rebound," Simpson said. "Johnson played a nice all-around game."

Laber scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Hacker finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds while Johnson got 13 points and six rebounds.

Brandon Rymer had a career-best 13 points and Justin Gibson scored 10 points to lead the Hornets (0-3).

Hacker scored 9 points the first quarter as St. Joseph took an 18-14 lead. Tim Elliott, Gibson, and Rymer had 4 each for the Hornets.

The Hornets got within 30-28 at the half despite 6 points by Johnson.

Rymer got hot the third quarter as he hit three 3-pointers as Coal Grove rallied to take a 47-42 lead at three quarter.

But St. Joseph came roaring back as Laber scored 7 points. Laber had 13 of his in the second half.

Coal Grove1414196--53

St. Joseph18121218--60

COAL GROVE (0-3): Brandon Rymer 2 3 0-1 13, Luke Tackett 2 0 0-0 4, Tim Elliott 3 0 2-2 8, Justin Gibson 4 0 2-4 10, Paul Rockel 2 0 1-2 5, Darius Porter 2 0 0-0 4, Tyler Sexton 3 0 2-2 8, Jimmy Lemon 0 0 1-3 1 1. Totals: 18

3

8-14

53. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (1-3):

Danny Stack 2 0 0-0 4, Kyle Johnson 4 0 5-8 13, Matt Hornbeck 2 0 2-3 6, Chris Laber 7 0 5-7 19, Shawn Hacker 8 0 2-7 18, Jeremy Addis 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23

0

14-25

60. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Stack. Rebounds: 43 (Hacker 17, Laber 15, Johnson 6). Assists: 7 (Laber 2, Hacker 2).