NATCHEZ – Cathedral High’s varsity basketball teams split a pair of Division 7-1A games with St. Aloysius Friday night at the Cathedral High gym.

In varsity boys action, the Green Wave (4-4, 2-3 in 7-1A) jumped out to a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter and held on to defeat the Flashes 71-63.

Willie Clark led Cathedral with 24 points, including 6-for-12 three-pointers, and Bart Lane had 15 points and 17 rebounds before fouling out.

&uot;We finally pulled one out,&uot; said Green Wave head coach Ken Beesley, Jr. &uot;Our two seniors (Clark and Lane) came through tonight.&uot;

The first three quarters went back and forth as neither team was able to put together a big run. By the end of the third quarter the score was 47-all.

Then Cathedral seemed to have the game put away as it led 67-54 with under three minutes to go after a thunderous one-handed dunk by Ja’Mel Jackson, who finished with 10 points, four boards and four steals.

Soon after, St. Aloysius (4-6, 3-3), behind the shooting of Kyle Richards and Matt Horn, started to rally.

Richards had 21 points and nine boards. Horn had 22 points and 15 boards. Victor Segers led the Flashes with 23 points.

The Flashes went on a 9-0 run to cut the Green Wave lead to four. But with 16 seconds left, Jonathan Jackson calmly hit two free throws to finally ice the win.

Lady Waves can’t come up with plays down the stretch

Lady Flashes 50, Lady Green Wave 47

The Lady Flashes jumped out to a big halftime lead and held on for the win.

Leslie Dyess led St. Aloysius (6-4, 3-3) with 17 points, and Danielle Klaus had 15 points pulled down 12 rebounds.

Kate Prescott nearly led Cathedral back, scoring 16 of her game-high 20 points in the second half. She also had 14 rebounds and four steals.

Cathedral next plays on Jan. 4 when they host Monterey, La. for two games starting at 6 p.m.

Cathedral 71, St. Aloysius 63 St. Al 14 16 17 16 – 63 Cathedral 11 17 19 24 – 71

Cathedral: Willie Clark – 24; Bart Lane – 15; Ja’Mel Jackson – 10; Jonathan Jackson – 9; Brady Hendrix – 8; Larry Thomas – 5 St. Aloysius: Victor Segers – 23; Matt Horn – 22; Kyle Richards – 21; Jason Brown – 2

St. Aloysius 50, Cathedral 47 St. Al 15 17 6 12 – 50 Cathedral 11 6 13 16 -&160;47

St. Aloysius: Leslie Dyess – 17; Danielle Klaus – 15; Amber Misiak – 5; Carrie Neil – 5; Laura Beth Lyons – 4; Jen Barnes – 2; Kelly Haden – 2 Cathedral: Kate Prescott – 20; Kelsey Stephens – 11; Mary Margaret Alwood – 7; Kristen Ater – 5; Leighton McDaniel – 3; Laura Huffines – 1