NATCHEZ — The Trinity Episcopal Day School boys’ basketball team was locked in a 51-51 dogfight with Copiah Academy midway through the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon.

But Saints’ senior Tanner Cage exploded for seven-straight points to give Trinity a seven-point lead. The rest of the Saints followed suit, and Trinity finished the game on a 24-11 run to win 75-62.

The Saints managed to cool off a hot shooting Copiah team during the late run, and Trinity head coach Edwin White said the run resulted from the Saints’ effort on the defensive end.

“We changed the defense up from a zone to a man-to-man,” he said. “The result was we got turnovers that led to some easy points.

“(Copiah) shot the ball extremely well. I haven’t seen a team shoot that well in a long time.”

Copiah hit seven three-pointers in the game, and five of those came off the hands of Josh Cook.

Trinity combated Copiah’s hot shooting with a balanced scoring attack led by Cage and Garrett Vinson, who each scored 18 points.

Dre McCoy added 16 for the Saints, while Tommy McCoy scored nine and Sky Logan added eight.

“In the last four or five games, we’re seeing balanced scoring,” White said. “There is not one payer that dominates the scoring. Every night it could be different.”

Trinity and Copiah were neck and neck the entire contest. Trinity led by one after the first quarter, two at halftime and four at the end of three periods. The fourth quarter looked like it would be another tight one, but the Saints’ late run allowed them to outscore Copiah 28-19 in the fourth.

The win pushed Trinity to 17-5 overall on the season. The Saints will get back into MAIS District 5-AA play Monday when they travel to face Oak Forest Academy.

Copiah Academy girls 54, Trinity 13

Copiah Academy’s Taylor Wilson was way too much for the Trinity girls’ basketball team to handle Saturday afternoon.

Wilson’s 30 points more than doubled the Lady Saints’ scoring output for the game, and Copiah cruised to a 54-13 victory.

Tali Beard led the Lady Saints with five points in the game, and Sloane Young scored three points.

Trinity trailed 32-7 at halftime and 49-8 at the end of three quarters. Each team netted five points in the final period.

Trinity (0-20) will face Oak Forest Monday.