Redmen kick in as they halt late Flyers rally
Lane Smith (44) of Rock Hill Redmen and Drew Brown (24) of the St. Joseph Flyers fight for a rebound in Tuesday’s game. The Redmen won 59-50. (Photo by Tim Gearhart)
Jim walker
The Rock Hill Redmen were sailing and then put their foot on the accelerator, so the St. Joseph Flyers took the opportunity to start cranking up their engines.
But Owen Hankins managed to create a retarder with a few clutch faults as the Redmen beat the Flyers 59-50 on Tuesday in the season opener for both teams.
Rock Hill took a 19-10 lead in the first quarter as Brayden Adams became the basketball version of Kyle Busch and made his way to 13 points.
Drew Brown scored 8 of 10 points for the Flyers during the quarter.
The Redmen got 4 points from Hankins, 3 points from Noah Doddridge and a basket from Deven Long in the second quarter as the offense cooled to just 9 points.
Michael Mahlmeister and Kia Coleman collected 4 points each in the second quarter to set the pace for the Flyers who reduced the deficit to 28-22 at the break.
Rock Hill started again in the third quarter as five different players scored. Lane Smith had 5 points, Hankins scored 4 and Long hit a triple to open a 45-31 lead..
Elijah Rowe had a triple and had two shots on goal as he had 5 of St. Joseph’s 9 points in the quarter.
But the Flyers made a comeback offer in the fourth quarter as Rowe hit a pair of treys and went 2 for 2 on the line, Brown hit a triple, Zachary Johnson was 4 for 4 on the line and Coleman had had 4 points and also made two free throws.
Rock Hill managed to convert 10 of 17 free throws in the fourth quarter with Hankins leading the way, shooting 5 of 6 down the stretch to preserve the win.
The Redmen were 15 of 27 off the line for the game.
The Flyers were 8 of 8 on the line in the fourth quarter and 14 of 15 for the game.
Adams led all scorers with 21 points, Hankins scored 13 and Doddridge with 9.
Rowe led the Flyers with 15 points, Brown scored 13 and Coleman added 10.
The Flyers will entertain Symmes Valley on Friday while Rock Hill visits Green on Saturday.
Rocky hill 19 9 17 14 = 59
Saint Joseph 10 12 9 19 = 50
ROCK HILL (1-0): Noah Doddridge 1 1 4-6 9, Owen Hankins 3 0 7-8 13, Brayden Adams 9 0 3-6 21, Deven Long 1 1 0-0 5, Victor Day 0 0 0-2 0, Brayden Malone 2 0 0 -0 4, Lane Smith 3 0 1-5 7. Totals: 19 2 15-27 59. Fouls: 17. Eliminated: Smith.
ST. JOSEPH (0-1): Aiden Debord 0 0 0-0 0, Elijah Rowe 1 3 4-4 15, Dru Canter 0 0 0-0 0, Kia Coleman 4 0 2-2 10, Zachary Johnson 1 0 4-4 6, Drew Brown 4 1 2 -2 13, Wesley Neal 0 0 0-1 0, Landon Rowe 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Mahlmeister 2 0 2-2 6. Totals: 12 4 14-15 50. Fouls; 20. Dirty: Johnson.