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NATCHEZ — Despite being held to single-digit scoring in the first half, St. Aloysius High School’s varsity boys’ basketball team hung tough with a good Adams County Christian School team last Friday night in an MAIS District 3-5A match-up.

But the Rebels turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and that allowed them to pull away for a 58-39 victory over the Flashes to stay with the likes of Cathedral and St. Joseph Catholic School of Madison in the district standings.

The one area ACCS had an advantage over St. Aloysius was in the post. The Rebels’ Edarius Green turned out to be a big problem for the Flashes to handle as he finished with a game-high 18 points. Trenton Davis scored 12 points and Landon McGuire chipped in with 10 points.

“I thought they played pretty hard. Our mismatch was getting the ball inside to Edarius,” Rebels head coach Matthew Freeman said. “He was able to make some easy shots down low.”

The Rebels jumped out to a 14-7 lead after one quarter of play, but the Flashes responded with a 15-13 advantage in the second quarter to go into halftime down just five points, 27-22. However, ACCS took over in the second half as the Rebels outscored St. Aloysius 16-11 in the third quarter and 15-6 in the fourth quarter.

The free-throw line was a big contributor for the Rebels as they went 15-of-19 from the charity stripe. Even with the win, Freeman said the Rebels are still “knocking off a lot of rust from the Christmas break.”

With the holiday behind them, the Rebels (12-5, 2-1) now look forward to a pivotal week of district games this week. That started with a trip to Madison to take on the St. Joe Madison Bruins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Then they play at Brookhaven Academy on Thursday night, followed by a home game against in-city rival Cathedral High School.

“We’ve got a tough week this week. St. Joe, Brookhaven (Academy) and Cathedral, they’re all good programs,” Freeman said. “We’ll try to have a good day of practice today (Monday).”

In the varsity girls’ game, the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes defeated the Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels. No other information on that game was available.

The Lady Rebels (no record available) next played at St. Joseph Catholic School of Madison at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the first of three district games this week.