Strong 1st half gives Flyers needed boost to take down Eagles

IRONTON — The St. Joseph Flyers got their most important work done in the first half.

The Flyers built a 15-point first half lead and made it stand up as they beat the Sugar Creek Christian Academy Eagles 68-53 on Monday.

The Flyers took a 23-16 first quarter lead as Barrett Waginger scored 7 points and five different players scored.

Will Salyers had 7 points and Elijah Long 6 for the Eagles (7-4).

St. Joseph (7-8) opened up a 39-24 halftime lead as Waginger scored 7 more points and Eli Whaley got 5 points including a trifecta.

Each team scored 13 points in the third quarter as Jack Whaley scored 4 points as 6 different Flyers scored in the quarter.

Landon Parker, Gavon Warren and Salyers scored 4 points each for the Eagles.

Both teams scored 16 points each in the fourth quarter.

Waginger scored 8 points and Eli Whaley had 6 points for the Flyers while Will Salyers hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 8 points while Parker had 5 points including a triple.

Waginger had 24 points and 6 rebounds to pace the Flyers. Eli Whaley scored 18 points to go with 3 assists and a pair of steals. Carson Willis had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Salyers got 24 points for the Eagles while Parker scored 13 and Long 10.

Sugarcreek 16 8 13 16 = 53

St. Joseph 23 16 13 16 = 68

SUGAR CREEK CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (7-4): Elijah Long 4 0 2-3 10, Landon Parker 3 1 4-5 13, Gavon Warren 1 0 2-2 4, Drew Salyers 1 0 0-0 2, Will Salyers 5 3 5-5 24, Tommy Trimble 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 4 13-15 53. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (7-8): Jack Whaley 3 0 0-1 6, Gus Listerman 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Weber 1 0 0-0 2, Eli Whaley 6 2 0-0 18, Barrett Waginger 9 2 0-0 24, Beckham Waginger 2 0 0-0 4, Jon Sharp 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Zane Dressel 1 0 0-0 2, Carson Willis 4 0 2-3 10, Carter Johnson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 31-60 2-4 68. 3-pt goals: 4-14. Rebounds: 24 (Ba. Waginger 6, Willis 4). Assists: 9 (J. Whaley 3, E. Whaley 2, Willis 2). Steals: 8 (Willis 4, E. Whaley 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.