NATCHEZ — Cathedral freshman Brandon Walker only scored six points for the Green Wave against Adams County Christian on Monday night in the ACCS Shootout.

But his final two points of the evening were the biggest of the game in Cathedral’s 62-59 victory.

Nursing a one-point lead with less than a minute remaining, the Green Wave ran over 30 seconds off the clock before passing the ball inside to Walker for an open layup.

The ACCS help-side defense recovered quickly, however, and made Walker put up his shot quickly.

The layup missed, but Walker got the offensive rebound and putback to give the Green Wave a three-point lead with 28 seconds remaining.

ACCS (8-7) got two attempts at a tying three-pointer in the final seconds, but both shots clanged off the rim and Cathedral held on for the victory.

“Brandon Walker made a big play there in the final minute to put us up by three,” Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold said. “A three-point lead compared to a one-point lead is a huge difference. Brandon is just a freshman, and it was huge for him to make that play. It will help him as he grows as a player.”

Walker’s rebound and putback in the final minute was a microcosm of the entire game for the Rebels.

Cathedral (5-4) dominated the boards in the game, especially the offensive glass, and had numerous second-chance points thanks to offensive rebounds.

“They killed us on the offensive boards,” ACCS coach Rick Fife said. “We didn’t box out well at times. As small as we are, we have to box out well on every missed shot, and we didn’t do that.”

For awhile, it didn’t look like the game would come down to the final minute.

Cathedral had a 34-29 lead at halftime and started the second half on a run, pulling out to a 44-34 advantage midway through the third quarter.

However, the Rebels made a run of their own, outscoring the Green Wave 11-4 the remainder of the quarter to close to within 48-45.

ACCS continued their run at the start of the fourth quarter, and actually took a 53-50 lead following Daniel Guedon’s driving layup with 5:30 remaining.

However, Cathedral recovered from their slumber and retook the lead for good at 58-56 on a Carl Hammitte basket with 2:50 remaining.

“We started off great in the third quarter and then went into a lull offensively,” Arnold said. “Fortunately our defense played well enough to bail us out. We got flustered, but we were able to regain our composure and that was key there for us at the end.”

Charles Lee led the way for Cathedral with 14 points while Hammitte added 13 and Daniel Huffines chipped in with nine.

ACCS was led by Lee Swinny with 17 points while Guedon scored 13 and Dillon Johnson tallied 10 for the Rebels.

ACCS girls 44, Cathedral 34

The Lady Rebels offense wasn’t spectacular, but their defense was airtight in a 10-point victory over Cathedral in the ACCS Shootout.

The ACCS defense held the Lady Green Wave to just 10 points in the first half and 17 points in the first three quarters in the victory.

“The girls fought hard and battled,” ACCS coach Melanie Hall said. “To get a win after the holiday break is always good.”

It was the kind of game that Hall wanted to see following the Christmas break and before the Lady Rebels get into the meat of their district schedule.

“I wanted this team to be pushed,” Hall said. “You’ve got to hand it to Cathedral, they battled very hard. They put us in some pressure situations and we handled it well and didn’t panic. We hadn’t been in that situation before and I was pleased with the way we handled it.”

Marlee Wadsworth led ACCS (15-6) with 17 points while Rachel Holloway added 12 for the Lady Rebels.

Cathedral was led by Ginny Daggett with 18 points.

WCCA girls 56, Huntington 32

After a sluggish first quarter, the WCCA Lady Rams had their way with the Huntington Lady Hounds en route to a 24-point win Monday afternoon at the ACCS Shootout.

With WCCA struggling to get shots to fall in the first quarter, Huntington took advantage and had a 10-5 lead at the end of the quarter. Then the Lady Rams took control of the game starting in the second quarter. At halftime they led the Lady Hounds 23-18 and continued their momentum in the third quarter. For the second straight quarter, the Lady Rams scored 18 points and in the third quarter they held the Lady Hounds to a mere four points.

Terri Fisher led WCCA with a game-high 24 points and Caroline Walker had 15 points. Abi Brown, Kristen Havard and Abbey Ashmore led Huntington with six points each.

The Lady Rams will take on the Cathedral Lady Green Wave today at 5 p.m., followed by the WCCA-Cathedral varsity boys game at 6:30 p.m.