NATCHEZ — Throughout the first half of the 2009-2010 season, Ethan Carruth has been either the third or fourth leading scorer for the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Rams.

But on Tuesday night, he used his height advantage over Adams County Christian School’s post players to lead WCCA with a game-high 19 points as the Rams stunned the Rebels 63-48 in an MAIS District 5-AA game.

“He’s a tough match-up for us height-wise. He really hurt us in the second quarter,” Rebels head coach Rick Fife said. “I thought they beat us bad on the boards, especially in the third quarter.”

Both teams struggled to get shots to fall in the first quarter, which ended with the Rams holding a 9-6 lead. Even though Carruth did much of his scoring in the second quarter, they led the Rebels by just seven points at halftime, 29-22.

The problem for ACCS (8-8, 2-1) in this game was shot selection. The Rebels took some questionable shots from near or behind the three-point line. With those shots not falling, WCCA continued to add to its lead in the second half.

“We forced shots at times tonight. We got out of our offense. (WCCA)’s defense had something to do with that, but I think we took ourselves out of the game with bad outside shots,” Fife said.

Even though ACCS held WCCA to 14 points in the third quarter, it could only manage 10 points. In the fourth quarter, the Rebels could not slow down the Rams, who scored 20 points in the final eight minutes.

“We played defense well at times and at other times was non-existent. That’s something we’ve got to work on in practice.”

Tip McKenzie scored 18 points and Luke Whitaker added 14 points for WCCA. Daniel Guedon led ACCS with 18 points and Lee Swinny chipped in with 11 points.

Natchez High 76, Ferriday 25

FERRIDAY — For a change, Natchez High got balanced scoring as four players scored in double figures as the Bulldogs rolled to a 51-point win over the Ferriday Trojans Tuesday night.

Natchez High had its way with Ferriday on both ends of the court from the opening tip to the final horn. In only one quarter did the Trojans manage to put up double-digit scoring – 12 points in the second quarter. And by halftime, the Bulldogs enjoyed a commanding 47-14 lead.

Jeremy McMorris, Santorius Pollard and Brandon Holden each scored 14 points and Trevon Chatman had 11 points for Natchez High (10-8). Gary Willis led Ferriday with 11 points.

Vidalia 73, Jena 42

JENA, La. — Whatever Vidalia head coach Robert Sanders said to his players after a sluggish first half must have worked because the Vikings came out on fire in the third quarter in their 31-point win over the Jena Giants in their District 3-3A opener Tuesday night.

Vidalia led Jena 17-10 after one quarter of play, but couldn’t add to its lead in the second quarter as the Giants managed to hang around. Both teams scored 12 points in that quarter.

But the third quarter was dominated by the Vikings. Led by Gary Stewart and Torrey Dixon, they outscored the Giants 29-12 to open up a 58-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Stewart led all scorers with 20 points and Dixon finished with 18 points. D.J. Polk added 10 points for Vidalia (14-4, 1-0).

Briarfield 52, Tensas Academy 48

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. — Austin Emfinger and Farrel Keahey did all they could to lead a depleted Tensas Academy to a win Tuesday night, but it was not to be as the Briarfield Academy Rebels held on for a four-point win in an MAIS District 6-A game.

Tensas Academy (3-10, 1-3) trailed Briarfield 10-6 at the end of the first quarter and 28-21 at halftime. The Chiefs cut the lead to four points at the end of the third quarter, but they could not put together a big run in the fourth quarter. Emfinger finished with a game-high 26 points and Keahey had 11 points.

Briarfield was led by Ridge Creech with 20 points and Jacob Hopkins with 18 points.

Tensas Academy hosts Huntington in district action on Friday.