St. Paul cruises past SJCC in opener

NORWALK — The nerves were obvious. Even though it had been nine months, St. Paul senior Nolan McCall couldn't help but think about it. "It felt really good to be back out there," McCall said. "I was really nervous because it had been a while since I stepped on the floor. "I was watching our last few games from the bench, so I was excited to be back out there with my teammates." In the third-to-last game of the 2023-24 regular season, McCall broke his wrist while bracing himself to hit the floor after an awkward fall in a game Feb. 16 at Monroeville. Back and fully healthy in the first game of his final season, McCall looked comfortable as ever. He finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists in St. Paul's 62-21 rout over Fremont St. Joseph. Korey Frazee and Landon Fries also each had 14 points and 10 different players scored in the non-league game Wednesday inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium. "I'm just trying to set a good example for the younger kids and give everything I got this year, because this is it," McCall said. "I thought we played really well. "At times we were out of control, but we were always there to pick each other up and help each other out, which is something all good teams do." St. Paul steadily gained separation in the first quarter. The Flyers turned an 8-6 lead into 16-6 after McCall scored consecutively — including a baseline slam dunk — followed by a 3-pointer from Frazee. Up 16-9 after one quarter, the Flyers removed all doubt in the second quarter. The 13-0 margin broke the game open to a 29-9 halftime lead. A Brady Fritz basket followed by a second 3 from Frazee made it 23-9, then he and McCall scored consecutively. Landon Fries capped the scoring run with a layup with 4.9 seconds left to make it a 20-point game at the break. "We had to make the adjustment with (Daishun) Brown, and with Landon trying to get us in our offense, we didn't want to wear him out at the defensive end," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said of the Crimson Streaks' 5-foot-4 junior guard. Brown had seven points in the first quarter and scored 17 of the team's 21 total. "We have a number of guys who are capable defenders," Minor said. "They all did a great job of taking him out of it, and fortunately for us no one else stepped up on their side." In the third quarter, the Flyers again cruised at both ends of the floor. McCall and Fritz each opened with two quick baskets, then SJCC's Sam Paeth scored at the 6:28 mark to stop a scoring drought that lasted 9:32. But the Flyers outscored the Streaks by a 21-6 margin over the rest of the quarter to open up a 54-17 lead. "It was almost how you'd script it and take your pick on a leading scorer," Minor said of having three players each score 14 points. "We will put them in a Yahtzee (dice) cup next week and throw them back out and hope you get the same thing with a different order. They don't care who the leading scorer is, which is the nice part." "Overall, we're pretty happy. It's always nice to open the season with a win." St. Paul, which also got six points and five rebounds from Fritz, is at Vermilion (1-0) on Tuesday. The Sailors opened the season with a 62-57 win at Western Reserve on Wednesday. "It will be a physical game," Minor said. "The last time we were over there, we started off really well then we kind of froze up, coughed up the lead — and never got it back. Kurt (Habermehl) will have them ready, and so we have to be, too."