NATCHEZ &045; It wasn’t the shot Glenn Williams took to those nose that sent blood everywhere that caused Adams Christian head coach John Gray to worry.

It was time Williams sat out being attended to that caused the most worry.

The Rebels’ point guard took a knee to the nose in Tuesday’s win at Parklane and sat out a good portion of the fourth quarter. That’s when the Rebels’ lead started to dwindle, but fortunately Williams re-entered the game and provided the spark it needed for the District 2-AAA win.

Today the Rebels will need that same spark when they host Trinity Episcopal in the second edition of the crosstown showdown with the varsity girls beginning at 6 p.m.

&uot;He’s OK &045; he got it bloodied real bad, but I don’t think there’s anything broke,&uot; Gray said of Williams. &uot;We liked to have never got it to quit bleeding. He came back in the last two minutes, thank goodness. We must have lost him close to four minutes left, and a 15-point lead went down to six. Him being out wasn’t the problem as much as we didn’t have the right people in the right spots.&uot;

Williams was left with a swollen nose afterward, but those are easy to take when they come along with victories. It was the Rebels’ 11th on the season as they continue to establish themselves as one of the better teams in Class AAA, particularly after that impressive win at Central Private last week.

It’s enough to garner plenty of respect from Trinity Episcopal’s bunch, who lost to AC 40-19 back on Dec. 13 in the first meeting of the city’s two MPSA schools.

&uot;I don’t know if we can play with them or not,&uot; TE head coach David King said. &uot;We’re certainly a better ball club than the first time since we’ve practiced more and played more games. They’ve got a great team. Coach Gray is a great coach and has done wonders with the program. We’ll go out there and give it all we’ve got.&uot;

The last time these two teams met the Saints employed a stall tactic that worked somewhat in the first half. The Saints and point guard Gregory Ketchings did plenty of standing around and holding the ball, which got things eerily quiet for a while in the tiny Trinity gym.

Now is a little more of a different story since the Saints have an inside game with Australian exchange student Robert Manson. They didn’t have one the first time and lined up guard Stevan Ridley underneath against the Rebels’ loads of height under the basket in Luke Ogden, Joey Norris, Hunter Halford and Clay Gould.

&uot;Their boys are real good with this Australian,&uot; Gray said. &uot;I don’t think they’ve lost to a Class A team (since). I haven’t seen him. I’ve just heard people talk about him. They say he’s real good and real big. Those things are real hard to defend in basketball. I’m glad he’s the strength of their team so they can compete for a state championship. We want the best for them &045; just not (tonight).&uot;

Manson’s presence could offset the Rebels’ defense a bit after last meeting when they could center around the perimeter game. Manson poured in 16 points in Friday’s win over Ben’s Ford, but a balanced scoring attack thanks to Ridley and Ryan Rachal gave the Eagles problems.

It’s that kind of result that could help the Saints not only today against AC but for the rest of the way.

&uot;I just feel better from a standpoint of we’re a better ball club,&uot; King said. &uot;We do have Robert, but they’ve got some tremendous guard play. They’ve got a tremendous ball club. I’ve seen Prep, and I think AC is as good as anybody in our league. We always schedule tough and always play the Preps, the JAs and the MRAs. That’s the only way you can be better &045; play people better than you.&uot;

The Rebels could use the tough competition themselves to continue to improve. The win over Parklane got them back on the positive side after that loss to Hillcrest on Friday, and the Rebels will turn around and host Lamar Saturday.

Like Trinity, AC’s focus is on those district games since the jockeying for seeding for the district tournament is well under way.

&uot;I think we’re coming, but we’ve still got a long way to go,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We’ve still got our weaknesses &045; blocking out, rebounding and ball handling. If we can get better as a team the next week and a half or two weeks, I think we can compete when it comes tournament time. We’ve got to really get on the boards. I’m a fanatic about blocking out.&uot;