NATCHEZ &045; Things were going so well for Adams County Christian School Tuesday night: swish, swish, charge drawn, defensive stop, swish.

The fourth quarter, however was different.

Clank, clank, missed rebound and swish (courtesy of Central Private).

Things went awry in a hurry, and Central Private was able to take a 44-34 win over the ACCS Rebels at the ACCS gym. Another night in MPSA District 2-AAA where they played well but couldn’t pull it out at the end.

&uot;Our conference is so tough,&uot; ACCS head coach Ricky Gray said. &uot;If you don’t bring you’re A game in this league, it’s tough. We’re going to get there. We know we’re working toward what we have to do. We’ve got to have consistent shooting and take care of the ball. But we get better each ball game we’ve played. We’ll regroup and get after it Friday.&uot;

The loss may have been difficult to swallow after playing so well for a good part of the game. But the shots didn’t fall in the fourth, and the passes did.

ACCS didn’t hit a field goal in the fourth quarter, and its only scoring came on two free throws from Beau Brashier with 2:14 left to cut the lead to 41-34.

That created a sense of momentum, and ACCS drew an offensive foul on the other end of the floor. But Central Private (12-6, 2-2) returned the favor on the following possession when post man Bobby Westbrook drew an offensive foul on ACCS post Luke Ogden.

&uot;Our defensive pressure really stepped up tonight,&uot; Central Private head coach Jason Norris said. &uot;The first half they were beating us on the boards. We talked about blocking out, and we stepped it up in the fourth quarter. I think the pressure from our defense kept them from scoring easy baskets.&uot;

ACCS got a basket from Ray Simpson with five seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 35-32 heading into the fourth quarter. Shot after shot didn’t fall, and several came from behind the 3-point line &045; an area the Rebels love to shoot from.

ACCS finished just 3 of 23 from the 3-point line for the game.

&uot;That’s where we’ve been shooting so well,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We’re getting there. We missed 14 free throws tonight, too. If you shoot that way and still be in the game against a team like this, you must be doing something right.

&uot;We got the shots we wanted, and we’ll shoot them again Friday night. I think their quickness made us shoot a little faster. You’ve got to give them credit. They swapped from man to zone and again to man. We recognized it, but it made us shoot it too quickly.&uot;

The ACCS Rebels used a 3-pointer in the third quarter to take its biggest lead of the second half. Brent Dossett knocked a trey home at the 5:34 mark to take a 26-20 lead.

Central Private then got a couple 3-pointers of its own &045; each from Bernard Robert &045; to tie the game up just over 30 seconds later.

Dossett hit another 3-pointer later for a 30-28 ACCS lead, but the Central Private Rebels answered with two free throws from Ken Dunham and a 3-pointer from Derek Woolfolk to take a 33-30 lead.

&uot;We thought all along we could get the ball inside if our big man (Woolfolk) could finish,&uot; Norris said. &uot;It was the problem early &045; if the big man could finish the shots. The biggest thing was us blocking out. Once we blocked out and settled down, we got the job done.&uot;

Central Private girls 59, ACCS 37

Central Private’s Lady Rebels went to the press early to take a commanding 21-6 lead by the end of the first quarter.

After that they just pulled away. ACCS kept the lead at 15 on a free throw from Nikki Hankins at the 2:44 mark, but Central Private ended the half on a 7-0 run to take a 36-14 lead at halftime.

Central Private then led 52-25 heading into the fourth quarter.

Top scorers for Central Private were Sarah Landry with 16, Samantha Kirkwood with 12 and Stefanie Kirkwood with 11.

Meghan Marchbanks led ACCS with nine points.