McCall sparks St. Paul to seventh straight

NORWALK — Nolan McCall didn't have long to think. But when the St. Paul junior left his feet, he did have enough time to tell himself one thing. "I better not miss this," McCall said. McCall had two momentum-shifting slam dunks on his way to a career night as the Flyers won their seventh straight game. St. Paul led for all but under a minute in which the game was tied in a 54-47 non-league win over Vermilion on Tuesday inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk. McCall finished with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots as the Flyers improved to 7-1 overall ahead of Thursday's huge matchup at Crestview. McCall's first two-hand slam came over a Vermilion defender after the Sailors had turned the ball over in the backcourt at the 6:01 mark of the opening quarter. He then poked the ball free in the third quarter for a breakaway slam dunk that gave the Flyers a 28-20 lead at the 5:17 mark. "The energy throughout the crowd and student section, that noise just gets inside of you and energizes the team," McCall said of the two dunks. "They didn't want that momentum and call the timeout. It's only worth two points, but the momentum is unmatched." St. Paul led 13-10 after one quarter and 21-14 at halftime. After the Sailors pulled within 24-20 on baskets by Wyatt German and Riley Kearns, the Flyers answered with two free throws by Jacob Bocock and the second dunk from McCall for a 28-20 advantage. It was 28-23 after an AJ Gerber 3-pointer, then Kearns pulled the Sailors within 32-27 at the 3:03 mark of the quarter on consecutive scores. However, junior Korey Frazee then closed out the quarter in a big way. The St. Paul guard scored the final nine points of the quarter over a 2:04 span, including a 3 to start the run. That gave the Flyers a 41-27 lead through three quarters, and when Michael Kirk drained a left corner 3, they led 44-27 with 7:41 left in the game. But the Sailors (4-5) kept coming, as an 8-0 scoring run with baskets from Kearns, German and Collin Angney made it a 44-35 deficit with 5:39 left in the game. But again, after Frazee had came up empty at the free-throw line, Brock Houck was able to rebound his miss, and find him in the right corner for another 3 and a 47-38 lead with 4:16 remaining. The Sailors did pull within 51-47 with exactly one minute left on a basket by Gerber, but Frazee and Kirk made foul shots late for the final margin of victory. "I think we were able to limit them on any kind of scoring runs with the exception of the start of the fourth quarter there," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said. "Instead of getting all over them and not let this get away from them like last year, we just subtly reminded them about it. "Korey got frustrated there at the foul line, but then went right to the corner, and I could see it was going in," he added. "That was a big shot to keep us on track." Frazee finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting to pace the Flyers after McCall. Kirk added 10 points. "All-around, Nolan had a big-time performance," Minor said. "I know they had a couple guys out, but that's a Division II school, so that's really pleasing to see him have that type of a game. "I thought our student section was nice and loud tonight as well." For Vermilion, Kearns had 21 points and German added nine. "It got away from us in the first half when we didn't get up into them and pressure them like we wanted to do," Vermilion head coach Kurt Habermehl said. "Unfortunately, we turned the ball over a little bit, and by the time we did, we overcame a 17-point deficit and cut it to four, but then we had a couple more bad possessions like we had all game. "I thought defensively they were physical and taking a way a lot of our cuts," he added. "They did a nice job on AJ, but what we have to understand is AJ gets people open because he's a screener, so other guys need to stop up and score the basketball more." St. Paul will visit the Cougars (10-0, 5-0) in a matchup of unbeaten teams for first place in the Firelands Conference on Thursday. Crestview is ranked No. 13 in this week's Associated Press poll in Division III. "We've just been attacking better and playing as a team," McCall said. "In our first game at Margaretta (73-40 loss on Dec. 14), we were not as sound defensively, but we've gotten much better with that." Vermilion also has a difficult task on Friday when it hosts Div. II AP No. 5 Willard (9-2) in an SBC Bay Division game. "In the fourth quarter, we just let loose, got after it and looks what happened," Habermehl said. "We were able to force some turnovers and got us going offensively, and that's the way we always have to play." VERMILION (4-5) Brock Meyers 2-0—4; Riley Kearns 10-0—21; AJ Gerber 2-2—7; Collin Angney 3-0—6; Wyatt German 4-0—9. TOTALS 21-2—47. ST. PAUL (7-1) Michael Kirk 3-1—10; Jacob Bocock 2-2—6; Brock Houck 1-1—3; Korey Frazee 5-4—16; Nolan McCall 7-1—15; Landon Fries 0-2—2; Evan Wangler 1-0—2. TOTALS 19-11—54. Vermilion 10 4 13 20 — 47 St. Paul 13 8 20 13 — 54 3-point FGs (V) Kearns, Gerber, German; (SP) Kirk 3, Frazee 2 JV: St. Paul won