Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The temperatures outside weren’t the only thing that began to freeze.
The St. Joseph Flyers imitated Christmas Eve when warm temperatures early in the day turned to below freezing night in a 45-40 loss to the Portsmouth West Senators on Saturday.
St. Joseph came out hot in the first half and led by as many at 16 points.
But once the Flyers entered the locker room at halftime and started to cool down, so did their shooting as they scored just 11 points in the second half.
Flyers’ coach Chris Barnes said his team’s problems were self-inflicted.
“We were too impatient and took a lot of bad shots. That led us to turning the ball over too many times,” said Barnes as the Flyers had 12 of their 17 turnovers in the second half.
“Even as bad as we played and as bad as we shot in the second half, we still had a chance to win. We only have two days of practice to work things out before our next game.”
The Flyers (2-1) play at Rock Hill on Tuesday.
Jackson Rowe scored 4 points while Matt Sheridan and Jimmy Mahlmeister each hit 3-pointers as the Flyers went up 12-5 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Rowe drained a 3-pointer for an 18-10 lead and his third trifecta of the quarter opened up a 21-10 cushion.
Jared Johnson had a layup, sank a foul shot and then got another layup off a pass from Mahlmeister and the lead was 26-12.
Johnson hit both ends of a one-and-one and it was 28-12 but Marion Phillips scored for West to half the run and then got a layup and it was 28-16.
Johnson’s free throw made it 29-16 just under a minute to play but Andrew Jones’ putback just before the buzzer cut the Flyers lead to 29-18 at the break.
“Jared played really well and hard. Jackson had great first half and overall our team defense was really good,” said Barnes. “Most of their points came off our poor offensive execution in the second half.”
West (3-3) came out the second half and took advantage of some cold shooting by the Flyers and cut went on a 16-6 run to close the gap to 35-32 as Luke Howard hit a 3-pointer and scored 9 points in the run.
Luke Howard’s basket with less than a minute left in the quarter made it a one-point game at 35-34.
In the fourth quarter, 44 scored as West completed its comeback to take a 36-35 lead.
J.C. Damron sank both end of a one-and-one with 5:28 left in the game to end the Flyers’ drought and it was 40-37.
Damron’s 15-footer sliced the deficit to 40-39 but two free throws by Noah Coleman put the Senators’ lead back to 3 points at 42-39.
Johnson converted 1-of-2 foul shots to make it 42-40 with 1:24 to go.
The Flyers got the ball back on a turnover and worked the close to 31 seconds only to throw the ball away and giving the ball back to West.
Coleman hit both ends of a one-and-one as West took a 44-40 lead. The Flyers missed a shot and got the rebound only to have West steal the ball and force the Flyers to foul.
Phillips made a free throw with three seconds left and West came away with a 45-40 win.
“It was a good learning tool for us. Youhave to give West credit. They are long and physical and they have a deep roster,” said Barnes.
Rowe led the Flyers with 13 points including three 3-pointers. Johnson added 10 points.
Howard scored 11 points and Coleman 9 for West.
Ports. West 5 13 16 11 = 45
St. Joseph 12 16 6 5 = 40
PORTSMOUTH WEST (3-3): Ryan Sissel 3 0 1-2 7, Luke Howard 3 1 2-3 11, Tanner Cantrell 0 0 0-0 0, Jesse Dixon 0 0 0-0 0, Marion Phillips 3 0 1-3 7, Noah Coleman 0 9-10 9, Luke Bradford 1 0 0-0 2, Andrew Jones 3 0 0-1 6, Rodney Moore 1 0 1-2 3. Totals: 14 1 14-21 45. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Dixon.
ST. JOSEPH (2-0): Jackson Rowe 2 3 0-0 13, Matt Sheridan 0 2 0-1 6, J.C. Damron 3 0 2-2 8, Jared Johnson 2 0 6-10 10, Jimmy Mahlmeister 0 1 0-0 3, Michael Mahlmeister 0 0 0-0 0, Max Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Salisbury 0 0 0-0 0, Will Whaley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 6 8-12 40. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: J. Mahlmeister.