By ERNEST BOWKER | The Vicksburg Post

VICKSBURG — St. Aloysius basketball coach Delvin Thompson only had a rough estimate of the number of turnovers his team committed Friday night.

“Probably 50,” he said, before revising it to a more realistic but still unpalatable total in the mid-20s.

Whatever the total, it was more than enough to bury the Flashes and send them to their fifth consecutive loss. After scoring 18 points in a competitive first quarter, they scored 18 the rest of the game and lost 79-36 to Cathedral.

“We just stopped playing. No hustle. No effort. No nothing. We just shut down,” Thompson said. “We’re going to have to get better playing as a team. Right now, it’s a lot of individual play, and that’s the reason why we’re losing like we’re losing. We’re just not playing together.”

Jardarius Anderson led Cathedral (8-2) with 16 points, five steals and seven assists. Connor Mire added 12 points, Craig Bradley scored eight, and Derrion Batiste had seven. Cathedral had 16 steals in the game.

Batiste’s 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer gave Cathedral a 23-18 lead and sent St. Al (0-5) into a downward spiral. As the Flashes struggled to hang on to the ball and to make shots, Cathedral crept out to a six-point lead with four minutes to go in the first half. Then, the Green Wave stepped on the gas.

Anderson scored 10 points in the period and Cathedral went on an 18-0 run to blow it wide open. St. Al’s Joshua Brown broke the run with a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, but the Green Wave still carried a 45-24 lead into halftime.

Brown led St. Al with 12 points. No one else scored more than five.

“It was miserable. It’s hard to go through, especially after being successful the past couple of years,” said St. Al forward Rett Verhine, who scored five points before spraining his ankle in the second half. “It’s basically a whole new team this year, and we’ve got some new guys who haven’t really learned the offense yet. By the time the subs come in, we fall apart a little bit. We’ve got to work on coming together as a team. Chemistry on offense is about our only problem right now.”

If there was a silver lining for the Flashes, it’s that they won’t have to wait long for a chance at redemption. They’re scheduled to play today at 3:30 p.m. at Hartfield Academy. The girls’ game begins at 2 p.m.

Thompson said the quick turnaround might help his team shake off this latest loss.

“It gives them a chance to redeem themselves, and come out and play. So I’m kind of glad we have a game tomorrow,” Thompson said.
(G) Cathedral 67, St. Aloysius 42

St. Al only trailed by one point at halftime, then scored 14 in the second half and wound up getting blown out by Cathedral on Friday night.

Natalie Fletcher and Baylee Graning scored 12 points apiece for Cathedral (8-2), while Caroline Kaiser and Elizabeth Smith finished with 10 each.

Brooklyn Breithaupt scored a game-high 16 points for St. Al (3-3), Olivia Curtis added 12, and Michelle Howington had eight points and eight rebounds. St. Al was outscored 38-14 in the second half.

“We were up in the first half and got relaxed,” Thompson said. “We’re just going to have to get in and work. The girls are playing good. We just had lapses in the game that we shouldn’t have. During those lapses we’ve got to be consistent. We have to run our halfcourt offense, and we’re just not doing that.”