Whaley's 24 helps Flyers soar past Royals; advance to Flyer Invitational finals

IRONTON — Three Dog Night once sang, “Eli’s coming, And The Cards Say, A Broken Heart.”

Eli came on Monday night and broke the hearts of the Rose Hill Royals as freshman Eli Whaley scored a career-high 24 points including six 3-point goals as the St. Joseph Flyers won 80-29 in the semifinals of the Flyers Invitational Tournament.

Saint Joseph's Evan Balestra (13) goes up for a shot during Monday's Flyer Invitational semifinal game between the Rose Hill Royals. (Photo by Tim Gearhart)

Evan Balestra joined in with the heart-breaking as he scored 17 points and Wesley Neal  came along as well with 14 points to give the Flyers their first win of the season and a berth in Friday’s championship game.

New Boston edged Elliott County 61-58 in in overtime in the opening game.

St. Joseph and New Boston will meet in the championship game following the consolation game between Rose Hill and Elliott County at 5:30 p.m.

Neal poured in 12 points, Balestra hit three 3-pointers and scored 8 points and Whaley had a pair of trifectas as the Flyers opened up a 30-6 lead.

Balestra had another 3-pointer and scored 7 points, Whaley hit a trey and Jake Stephens got 4 points as the lead went to 46-19 at the half.

Christian Blevins made a triple and had 7 points while Collin Wilburn had 6 for the Royals in the quarter.

Whaley must have been warming himself by a small fire in his locker as he came out with a hot and and buried three 3-pointers and scored 13 points with Carter Johnson adding 4 points and the Flyers’ lead grew to 70-22 at the end of the third quarter.

Jack Whaley scored 4 points as 4 different players scored in the fourth quarter for the Flyers.

Blevins hit another triple and had 5 points for the Royals (2-4). Blevins finished with 17 points and Wilburn had 10.

Second Game

Rose Hill 6 13 3 7 = 29

St. Joseph 30 16 24 10 = 80

ROSE HILL (2-4): Christian Blevins 3 3 2-2 17, Dylan Blevins 0 0 0-0 0, Collin Wilburn 4 0 2-5 10, Bryant Stephens 0 0 0-0 0, Braxton Rush 0 0 0-0 0, Alex Boss. 0 0 0-0 0, Allan Boss 1 0 0-2 2. Totals: 8 3 4-9 29. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.

ST. JOSEPH (1-4): Jack Whaley 2 0 0-0 4, Brady Medinger 0 0 0-0 0, Aiden Deborde 0 1 0-0 3, Eli Whaley 3 6 0-0 24, Ian Whaley 0 0 0-0 0, Evan Balestra 3 3 2-4 17, Kai Clark 1 0 0-0 2, Drew Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Jake Stephens 3 0 0-0 6, Wesley Neal 5 0 4-4 14, Zane Dressel 0 0 0-0 0, Carson Willis 0 0 0-0 0, Carter Johnson 4 0 2-4 10. Totals: 21 10 8-12 80. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.

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First Game

Elliott County 15 9 14 15 5 = 58

New Boston 10 14 14 15 8 = 61

ELLIOTT COUNTY (0-8): Corbin Craft 0 0 0-0 0, Aiden Barker 3 0 3-3 9, Elijah Faulkner 1 1 0-0 5, Ryland Brickey 0 1 1-2 4, Lake Adkins 7 3 7-12 30, Ian Griffith 1 0 0-0 2, Nathan Sturgill 4 0 0-1 8, Tyson Crabtree 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5 11-18 58. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Faulkner, Brickey, Sturgill.

NEW BOSTON (1-3): Jayse Tabor 1 0 4-66, Tyreke Lewis 0 6-8 6, Kellen Gray 0 0 0-0 0, Colt Maynard 0 0 0-0 0, Devin Allard 8 2 9-12 31, Lemarcus Parker 1 0 0-0 2, T.J. Curnutte 1 2 1-2 9, Hunter Easter. 3 0 1-1 7. Totals: 14 4 21-29 61. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.