CLINTON &045; Playing good defense and holding their opponents well under their average is one thing that helped Trinity Episcopal make it to the MPSA Overall Tournament.

However, Class A’s No. 3 seed ran into a Madison Ridgeland Academy team looking for redemption after losing to Jackson Academy in the Class AAA State title game last Saturday.

Led by Phillip Harrison, Samuel Bolen and some outstanding defense of their own, the Patriots defeated the Saints 46-38 Tuesday afternoon at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.

&uot;Our kids played way above their heads,&uot; Saints head coach David King said. &uot;We took a powerhouse team to the limit. Just scrappy, hard play.&uot;

MRA (28-6), Class AAA’s No. 2 seed, who got 14 points from Harrison and 10 points from Bolen, will take on Class AA State champion Columbia Academy in a quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. today.

And Patriots head coach Richard Duease’s game plan for his team to defeat Trinity (19-13) was simple &045; let Robert Manson get his points and rebounds and shut down the rest of the team.

The plan worked out quite well for the Patriots, albeit after getting off to a slow start.

Manson finished with game-highs of 16 points and seven rebounds, but Gregory Ketchings and Stevan Ridley were held to nine points each and Zach Rogel was held scoreless.

&uot;Richard Duease always has a good team up there,&uot; King said. &uot;He complimented us on how hard we played. This has to be the most fun team I’ve coached.&uot;

Trinity took a 13-9 lead after one quarter of play, but MRA took control of the game in the second and third quarters.

The Patriots outscored the Saints a combined 19-10 over that 16-minute stretch to take a 28-23 lead after three quarters of play, then sealed it with an 18-15 advantage in the fourth quarter.

&uot;When you play the number two team in the MPSA, they take you out of your offense,&uot; King said.

Ketchings had a tough time finding his shooting touch as he finished 3-of-12 from the field, including 2-of-9 from three-point range.

Another big factor was free-throw shooting. MRA was 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) from the line to offset a 15-of-44 performance from the field while Trinity’s struggles at the charity stripe continued as the Saints were just 4-of-11 (36.4 percent).

&uot;It might have been a factor but it wasn’t,&uot; King said. &uot;Our kids were just outmanned.&uot;

Harrison was just 4-of-12 from the field, but hit 2-of-4 3-pointers and was 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Bolen had three of MRA’s seven steals.