Frazee, McCall lead Flyers past Vermilion

VERMILION — The competition aspect is fun in more ways than one. St. Paul senior Korey Frazee found friendly competition in several different areas Tuesday night. Playing at Division IV Vermilion, Frazee and classmate Nolan McCall each had big shooting nights and helped St. Paul to a 60-40 non-conference win over the host Sailors. Frazee had 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting in less than three quarters of action, while McCall was 7-of-12 from the floor with 15 points and 12 rebounds in the same amount of time. When the pair — who have been starting for three years together — checked out of the game, they had combined for 35 of the Flyers' 50 points. "Nolan is a great player, and I don't know anyone else who is 6-foot-7 who can rebound, pass and shoot the 3 like he does," Frazee said. "He's one of one, and he makes it so easy to play off of him. His passing and shooting ability makes it easy, honestly." Frazee also had some fun, albeit maybe too much fun, with the Vermilion student section. After some banter from the students, Frazee drained a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give the Flyers a 30-21 halftime lead. But when he held up three fingers toward the students, he was also assessed a technical foul. "I love it. I'm a competitor, they were saying some stuff, but I should have kept my composure a little better there," Frazee said. "But we got the win, everyone played well tonight, and it's on to the next one." Leading 30-21 at halftime, and soon after Vermilion split the free throws on the technical, Frazee opened a huge third quarter with another 3-pointer for a 33-22 lead. That proved to be the first three points of a 22-8 scoring run for the Flyers. McCall again scored right after Frazee, then the pair had another two key sequences in the quarter. First, Frazee found a streaking McCall on a deep outlet pass across half-court after a Vermilion turnover for an easy two-handed slam dunk. Frazee then made a basket, and on St. Paul's next trip down, he scored again and was fouled. Though he missed the free throw, McCall was there for the rebound and easy putback score that extended the St. Paul lead to 43-24. The Sailors (1-1) got within 45-30 on a basket by Terrance Anders with 2:08 left in the quarter, but drew no closer. St. Paul scored the final five points of the quarter — three from McCall and a pair of free throws by Landon Fries. "If those two can average that, we can be dangerous," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said. "And on nights when those two aren't on like that, we know we have other kids who can step up, too. These kids don't care who does what. "We got contributions from everyone who was out there again. As long as we have that attitude, it's awesome from one guy to the next, right down the line. They all did a good job." In the first half, the Flyers were 11-of-19 shooting from the field to grab the 30-21 halftime lead. Vermilion's Caleb German and Dom DiFucci scored consecutively to bring the Sailors within 18-17 with 3:41 left in the half. From there, the Flyers closed the second quarter on a 12-4 scoring run. Grant Kuhnle started things with a 3-pointer from the right wing, then McCall scored on a short jumper for a 23-17 lead at the 2:23 mark. Off an inbounds pass, Fries then drilled a 3 to extend the lead to 26-17 at the 1:51 mark. A three-point play by Vermilion's Nate Pinkerton stopped things with 30.1 seconds left in the half to make it 27-21, only for Frazee to make his left corner 3 just before the halftime buzzer to make it 30-21. "That and our half-court defense was really good. I think their shots, some of them they hit early and they took the lead a couple times, we didn't panic and stuck to our plan and did what we were capable of doing. Things they tried to take away, we were able to execute. We were able to use every part of our game." Fries added 11 points for the Flyers, who have a stern non-league test on Saturday vs. Margaretta. For Vermilion, Pinkerton had 12 points and Drake Hooks scored nine. ST. PAUL (2-0) Nate Griffin 0-2—2; Jacob Zuccaro 1-3—5; Grant Kuhnle 2-1—6; Korey Frazee 8-2—20; Brady Fritz 0-1—1; Nolan McCall 7-1—15; Landon Fries 2-6—11. TOTALS 20-16—60. VERMILION (1-1) Dom DiFucci 1-0—2; Noah Penton 0-1—1; Brock Myers 2-1—6; Nate Pinkerton 4-3—12; Caleb German 1-1—3; Terrance Anders 1-0—2; Mason Cooper 1-0—2; Adam Gerber 1-1—3; Drake Hooks 4-0—9. TOTALS 15-7—40. St. Paul 13 17 20 10 — 60 Vermilion 9 12 9 10 — 40 3-point FGs: (SP) Frazee 2, Fries, Kuhnle; (V) Hooks, Pinkerton, Myers JV: Vermilion, 43-37