NATCHEZ — If there’s one thing Richy Spears can’t fault his players for, it’s their hustle.

But hustle wasn’t enough for the Adams County Christian School boys as the Rebels remained winless on the season in a 52-33 loss to Bowling Green School Tuesday evening.

“I feel like we’re working hard,” head coach Richy Spears said. “We’re playing hard, we just can’t take advantage of opportunities. We still had a chance to keep it competitive, but we just didn’t.”

ACCS kept it close for a quarter, as the Rebels only trailed 8-6 after the first quarter. But Bowling Green began to pull away in the second, taking a 24-15 halftime lead.

The Buccaneers continued to build on their lead in the third quarter, with the multi-talented Mac McEleeven leading the charge. Of the Bucs’ 15 third-quarter points, McEleeven scored 10 of them.

And he did it with a both a strong inside presence and a few shots from beyond the arc. Spears said he knew coming in that McEleevan would present problems for his defense.

“He’s been a good player for them for the past three years,” Spears said. “He’s a smooth player. He can shoot it, take it inside, beat you off the dribble, hit 15-foot jumpers… he’s just the complete package.”

The Bucs led 39-26 after three, and ACCS just seven points in the fourth quarter to Bowling Green’s 13.

McEleeven and Patrick Rouldon both tallied 14 points for the Bucs. Trey Fleming had 10 points for ACCS.

Spears said the losses have proven frustrating, especially since he feels like his team is better than it’s 0-4 start.

“They play hard,” Spears reiterated. “With a new coach and a new system, I guess we have to come in and get used to each other.”

Bowling Green 57, ACCS girls 14

In the past five years, ACCS girls head coach Melanie Hall said she doesn’t think she’s seen one of her teams play as badly as they did Tuesday night.

But Hall wasn’t being down on her players — that’s just the reality of having several starters out with injury.

“It was awful,” Hall said. “We didn’t execute the things we should have been able to. We have to take care of business.”

Specifically, Hall said running breaks, the offense and playing fundamental basketball all suffered Tuesday night.

ACCS trailed Bowling Green 32-9 at the half. Skylar Adams led the Lady Rebels in scoring with eight points, followed by Ashleigh Williams with six points. Nikki Worthey had two points and Brooke Allen tallied one point.

“I do believe in them,” Hall said. “They have it in them, we’re just battling through tough times. There’s a lot of learning going on. If we use it as a positive, when we come out of it, we’ll be stronger. I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen.”

ACCS (2-5) will play Nov. 27 at Bowling Green.