Remember that stall offense Trinity’s boys broke out up against Adams Christian last year?

It may come out again soon.

The Saints may be forced to use that at least once this week and maybe more often down the road after they lost their second impact player over the holiday break. Point guard Gervoni Ware was declared academically ineligible for the remainder of the season after forming a one-two scoring punch with Stevan Ridley so far for the Saints.

Ware, a junior, had 37 points in a win over Bowling Green last month.

&uot;Gervoni is a great kid, and he’s really worked hard,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;Academics are first and foremost at Trinity. It was a little bit different than what he was used to. He just had a couple of bad semesters, but we hope he’s going to make it up. We hope he can improve his grades and we can get him back next year. He’ll have to overcome it.&uot;

Ware, who checked into Trinity after transferring from Natchez High once his family moved back to Natchez, used his quickness and scoring ability to give the Saints an outside threat to complement Ridley on the block.

In the win over Bowling Green Ware hit six 3-pointers, including four in the third quarter. He tossed in 20 in an overtime win at Columbia.

The departure creates a void in the Saints’ lineup, particularly since no other outside player had put up the points he has this season. The team was just over the loss of 6-6 post Robert Manson, who the MPSA ruled ineligible last month.

So when the Saints get back on the floor this week following a two-week holiday break, things will be different. The Saints host Amite tonight, Centreville Tuesday and visit Brookhaven Academy Friday.

&uot;We’ll have to have somebody to step up,&uot; King said. &uot;We have three or four kids who have been playing that sixth-man role. They’ll have to step up and give us the same minutes (Ware) gave us. We’ll have to get the ball to Stevan in different ways. But our kids are used to winning. I’m interested to see how are kids will bounce back. We’ve got four games this week, and three of them are tough district games.&uot;

The role of point guard may fall on sophomore Jon-Davis King, who was one player in the sixth-man rotation for the Saints along with Tripp Bryant and Kris Ford. Davis played point at times this season, and he’ll get the first crack at filling the void at the top.

Zach Rogel and Wyatt Craig may share some of the ball-handling duties in their off-guard positions.

&uot;He’s come in and given us some good minutes off the bench,&uot; King said. &uot;Kris Ford hasn’t played a lot of basketball. We’re hoping he can come in and help us.&uot;

The departure comes at a difficult time with the meat of the district schedule coming up, particularly the Brookhaven Academy game. The Cougars may have one of their better teams in recent years this season, but they’re not the only athletic team in 4-AA that likes to run the floor and put pressure on you.

So the Saints may do the opposite if they have to &045; just hold the ball and watch the clock go down &045; as they try to jockey for the No. 2 spot in the district tournament.

&uot;In this district all these teams will have a lot of athletes,&uot; King said. &uot;It’s not a fun part of coaching, but you have to adjust to your personnel at this level. It’s something I’m used to. It’s going to be a different brand of basketball this year than what people are used to around here. They all have a lot more athletic team than we do. The pressure is on us, but our kids are used to pressure.&uot;

TAKE MY ZONE OFFENSE, PLEASE &045; The week was a forgettable one for Bowling Green’s boys, and you can blame much of that on the holiday break and everything associated with it.

But when WCCA came with a zone defense in Thursday’s game at the WCCA Shootout, it presented more problems for the Buccaneers. The Rams were able to stay with it and keep the game close for the first half until things went awry after halftime and the Bucs took a 53-33 win.

&uot;I can’t stand the zone,&uot; Bowling Green head coach Richy Spears said. &uot;We don’t play well against people who play us zone. Everybody in our district plays man &045; Trinity plays man, Brookhaven plays man and Oak Forest plays man. We practice against the zone, but we don’t spend a whole lot of time on it.&uot;

The Rams went to the zone to neutralize Hunter Creel and the Bucs’ inside game, but just before the buzzer to end the second quarter they got a 3-pointer. The Bucs had problems scoring in the halfcourt until the second half when they got some easy buckets off steals in their half-court trap.

&uot;We played (zone) until the fourth quarter when we went man,&uot; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said. &uot;In a way, we were putting the pressure on them. They weren’t hitting the outside shots. We were winning the battle of the boards.&uot;

NATCHEZ NATIVES &045; The basketball coaching staff at Davidson High School in St. Joseph, La. has a distinct Natchez flair to it.

Both boys’ head coach K.G. Watkins and girls’ head coach Sonya Singleton live in Natchez and commute daily to St. Joseph to coach their respective squads. That’s not a short drive; it usually takes about an hour each way.

&uot;It’s 60 miles one way out there,&uot; Watkins said. &uot;That makes for a long day &045; you leave at 6 a.m., sometimes get home at 10 p.m.&uot;

Both coaches agree that it’s worth it. For one, just about any head coaching job is worth the trip. There are a limited number of such positions in the Miss-Lou.

But there’s more to it than that. Watkins said he appreciates the small size of the school and the tight personal relationships he builds with the young men on his team.

&uot;It’s a small school. There’s only about 200 kids in the high school,&uot; Watkins said. &uot;You get to know the kids. We’re so close, they know when you’re yelling, you’re yelling for them, not at them.&uot;

For Singleton, it’s about respect. She said she gets respect from the people she works with in the school, the students and members of the community. She said she would like to coach closer to home at some point, but she’s very happy at Davidson.

&uot;I love it over there,&uot; Singleton said. &uot;Everybody treats you with respect. When I get ready, I’ll come back. Coaching at home someday would be nice.&uot;

HARD TIMES &045; As the Adams Christian girls continue to log games under their belts and play more as a team, things will continue to come together. Friday at the WCCA Shootout things didn’t come together as planned, but they still had a chance to win.

The Lady Rebels came up short in a 27-25 loss to Bowling Green that had enough defense on both sides to suit everybody in the stands for the entire day. Bowling Green had just two field goals the entire second half, but the Lady Rebels couldn’t account for enough field goals of their own.

But if you take account of the team’s four losses this season, there’s still plenty of hope.

&uot;I’m just real proud we made it that far,&uot; head coach John R. Gray said. &uot;We could have won any of our four losses. That’s what’s so hard. We got beat one in overtime, and the others have been two or three points. We didn’t actually give this one away &045; they earned it.&uot;

HARD TIMES II &045; It may be a textbook case of how things can go so wrong after the holiday break despite going so right just before Christmas.

The Ferriday Trojans were playing well and showed it at the Rayville tournament with a win over Rayville and playing well the final day of the tournament. But that’s not how things turned out at the Sicily Island tournament this week &045; an overtime win over Newellton Thursday and a one-point loss to Delhi on Friday.

Now the Trojans will get back in action this week with action against Davidson, Sicily Island and Natchez High.

&uot;We’ve been sluggish,&uot; FHS head coach James Davis said. &uot;The things we were doing at the first of the year &045; we haven’t been getting that lately. It doesn’t help we don’t have an inside game. We got good looks inside, but we didn’t hit the shots. That’s been the story the last four games. Our big guys aren’t playing well inside, and that’s really hurting us.&uot;

BIG MAN DELIVERS &045; After much was made about the return of Dustin Case to the Adams Christian lineup, the Rebels’ big men have been able to pick up the slack and start to produce in the paint.

Timmy Foster had the big game last week, but Casey Gould delivered for the Rebels Friday in a win over Bowling Green at the WCCA Shootout. The tall, lanky Gould came up with eight points along with Foster’s 10 to indicate to the opposition the team isn’t all guards.

Gould, a senior, was also able to handle the ball better in the low post, something that’s nagged him so far this season.

&uot;It’s a matter of pretty much challenging them,&uot; Rebels head coach Kyle Smith said. &uot;Casey set a challenge for himself. Timmy is getting used to playing inside and out, and I think our inside game has improved. The guys are starting to realize that our offense works from the inside out. It’s opening up shots from the outside for us. Our scoring has been balanced the last couple of games.

&uot;I think (Gould) gets upset with people complaining to him about not catching the ball and not hanging on to it. He’s responded well the last couple of games. He’s done a lot better.&uot;

Sports writer Christian Schmidt contributed to this story.