Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

RACELAND, Ky. — As Bullwinkle Moose would say when reaching into his magic hat and pulling out a growling animal head, “ I’ve got to get another hat.”

Every time the St. Joseph Flyers tried reaching down for a key play, it didn’t happen as they lost 69-52 to the Raceland Rams Friday.

The Flyers fell behind by 13 points after three quarter but rallied to get within 3 points in the fourth quarter.

But the comeback bid was for naught as the Rams kept making plays and pulled away for the win.

“It seemed like when we needed a play, we just couldn’t get it. But I can’t fault our kids. The effort was there. They played hard,” said Flyers’ coach Jeremy Williams.

Hunter Pemberton scored 12 points to lead the Flyers (3-3). Joseph Payton had 4 steals and 2 assists and Trey Young came off the bench to score 8 points.

“We got in foul trouble early and Young and (Zach) McGraw came in and did a nice job,” said Williams.

Jacob Blair had 18 points, Zach Kelly 10 points and Connor Messer 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Rams (1-0).

Kelly scored 6 points in the first quarter to help offset 5 points by Pemberton as Raceland took a 16-8 lead.

St. Joseph came back to outscore the Rams 21-20 in the second quarter and trailed 36-29 at the break.

Kyle Williams and Young scored 5 points each in the quarter to spark the Flyers’ scoring surge. Austin Bressler had 6 of his 8 points in the quarter for Raceland.

Blair had 5 points in the third quarter and the Flyers scored just 7 points and it was 49-36 after three quarters.

Wulf Goheen scored 5 points as St. Joseph cut the deficit to 5 points in the fourth quarter, but Blair had 9 points and Messer 7 as Raceland began to pull away.

“They just had more depth than us and that hurt us,” said Williams.

The Flyers played at Portsmouth West on Saturday night and play Fairland next Saturday at 4:15 p.m. in the Ironton Classic.

St. Joseph 8 21 7 16 = 52

Raceland 16 20 13 20 = 69

ST. JOSEPH (3-3): Hunter Pemberton 1 2 4-4 12, Wulf Goheen 2 1 0-0 7, Kyle Williams 0 1 6-8 9, Chris Lewis 0 0 2-2 2, Troy Scott 1 0 2-6 4, Ben McDonald 0 0 0-0 0, Joseph Payton 3 0 0 0-0 6, Zach McGraw 1 0 2-2 4, Trey Young 3 0 2-4 8. Totals: 15-40 18-26 52. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Scott. 3-point goals: 4-15. Rebounds: 17 (Lewis 5, Scott 4). Assists: 5 (Payton 2). Steals: 8 (Payton 4). Turnovers: 14.

RACELAND (1-0): Connor Messer 4 0 1-2 9, Austin Bressler 3 0 2-2 8, Jacob Blair 3 1 9-9 18, Landon Adams 0 0 1-2 1, Josh Young 1 0 0-1 2, Tyler Morris 2 1 0-0 7, Tristan Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Jacob Holbrook 1 0 0-0 2, Chase Thomas 1 0 0-2 2, Maverick Dixon 4 0 0-0 8, Zach Kelly 0 3 1-2 10. Totals: 25-50 14-20 69. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 5-12. Rebounds: 28 (Messer 5, Brown 4). Assists: 3. Steals: 8 (Blair 2, Morris 2). Blocked shots: 3 (Morris 2). Turnovers: 18.