The Trinity Saints got off to a slow start, but came alive in the second half for a 71-58 win over the Huntington Hounds Tuesday night at Clyde Adams Arena on the Trinity Episcopal campus.

With the win, Trinity (18-3) won the MPSA District 5-1A regular season title with a 10-0 district record and will be the No. 1 seed in the varsity district tournament.

Chad Ridley scored a game-high 26 points despite being in foul trouble for most of the game, and Mike Lickliter had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Trinity.

&uot;It wasn’t pretty, but our kids just find a way to win games,&uot; said Saints head coach David King. &uot;That’s what we’ve done all year long.&uot;

After Huntington (10-13, 6-4) scored the game’s opening basket, Trinity outscored the Hounds 15-6 the rest of the first quarter.

Trinity led by nine points, 27-18, midway through the second quarter before Huntington went on a 16-7 run to tie the score at 34 at halftime.

&uot;We didn’t play good in the first half,&uot; Ridley said. &uot;We didn’t play good defensively. I couldn’t foul out in a big game.&uot;

Huntington kept the game close in the third quarter as the Hounds were outscored by the Saints by only five points, 18-13, in the period.

Trinity finally put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, taking a double-digit lead at 60-49 nearly midway through the quarter.

&uot;We played better in the second half than we did in the first half,&uot; Ridley said. &uot;We played a man-to-man defense in the second half.&uot;

Trinity led by as many as 19 points late in the fourth quarter before Huntington scored the last six points of the game.

&uot;Huntington always plays us tough,&uot; King said. &uot;This was a good game going into the tournament.&uot;

Josh Johns led Huntington with 17 points and had 10 rebounds, three three-pointers and four blocks. Randy Hinson added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The game was the regular-season finale for Huntington.