By Reina Kempt & Michael Kerekes

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — The week was filled with highs and lows for the Adams County Christian School boys basketball team.

The Rebels were able to get a big win against Silliman Institute 63-30 Dec. 30 but lost to Brookhaven Academy Friday. Head coach Richy Spears said things would have to change before their game against Central Hinds Academy Tuesday.

“We talked after the game as a team, and we all have to be on the same page and play together,” he said.

Spears said there were a few fundamental errors that cost them the game against Brookhaven.

“Our defense and execution (has to get better),” Spears said. “We have to trap better when we go man to man, and we have to see what’s going on.”

Offensively, Brandon Brooks was the only Rebel to have a consistent week, scoring 16 points against Brookhaven and 19 points against Silliman Institute.

The 63-30 win against Silliman was led not only by Brooks, but also Tyler Stockstill, who added points. Most importantly to Spears, though, was having 10 players score in that game.

“That’s what we stress in practice, we have to be a team no matter what,” he said. “I told them, you could pass too much. Sometimes you have to be aggressive and take it.”

Spears also said he was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts that night. They’ll have to continue to play good defense in order to be successful in district play.

“I thought we did pick it up defensively,” Spears said. “We used our quickness, and we used it to our advantage.”

The Rebels play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Central Hinds Academy.

Cathedral High School

Green Wave head coach Peter Arnold wasn’t exactly thrilled about his team’s 61-41 loss to Monterey Friday.

The game dropped the Cathedral boys to 4-7 on the year, and Arnold said his players didn’t show the sense of urgency they needed to win against a good Wolves squad.

“We have to show up and play with heart, and we didn’t do that last night,” Arnold said.

Arnold added, however, that a lack of practice time — and not having his entire squad make the few practices they’ve had — was a contributing factor to his team’s struggles.

“We’ve had four practices (since school got out), and we weren’t even close to having everyone there,” Arnold said. “It’s next to impossible to get chemistry built and keep momentum going. In the first half (Friday), we looked like we’d never played basketball before, but I don’t know what you can do about it.”

Though the team is allowed to play anytime during the Christmas break, Arnold said the administration’s preference is no games until school gets back in session. While he understands their reasoning — athletes needing a break from school-related activities — Arnold said the result is what happened Friday.

“If you’re coaching basketball, you can’t take two weeks off,” Arnold said. “We couldn’t find a tournament to play in, so we had two weeks of no games. In this sport, you can’t compete with better teams when you’re doing that.”

Despite the setbacks, Arnold said he believes his squad has the talent to compete with anyone in their division.

“I’m very optimistic we can do it, we just need to get everyone in the gym at one time,” Arnold said.

Cathedral will take on Bogue Chitto at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.