NATCHEZ &8212; December isn&8217;t even here yet, and already Matt Goss has a big reason to smile.

For years the Cathedral Green Wave has taken its lumps early in the season against teams from the Lincoln County area and other areas trying to get ready for region games, but so far things are different.

The Green Wave beat Loyd Star ealier this month, and Monday night&8217;s 57-54 win over Wesson gave Goss and the team a good bit of optimism with only four games under its belt despite losing a key starter in Juan Gray.

&8220;The past years we&8217;ve never beaten Wesson or Loyd Star as long as I&8217;ve been in high school,&8221; said Goss, who put up 11 points for the Wave. &8220;It&8217;s been exciting. This year has been something to beat them both.

&8220;We played real well that first game against Loyd Star, then we fell apart and then we got it back together and played as a team tonight. I&8217;m kind of surprised with the football players being around only a couple of weeks.&8221;

And much like that first win over Loyd Star, the game didn&8217;t come easy. Even when Gray went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter, the Wave nearly buckled against Wesson&8217;s pressure defense.

But when the fourth quarter came around, the Green Wave (2-2) cut down on its turnovers, got some stops on the perimeter against the Cobras and got some key free throws from Alex Middleton down the stretch to close it out.

&8220;It&8217;s just a good group of seniors and underclassmen,&8221; CHS head coach Peter Arnold said. &8220;They just play hard. I just kept stressing to just keep fighting hard, go for the loose balls and go for every rebound. Cut down your unforced turnovers, play good defense and rebound &8212; that&8217;s the key to any basketball team, but that&8217;s our keys. We played the way that&8217;s beneficial to us, and that&8217;s a game in the 50s.&8221;

The game could have easily gotten out of hand in scoring with much more points than the 50s if the Cobras had their way. Armed with a smaller lineup that put an emphasis on running the floor, the Cobras (0-5) did just that for most of the game and created points off many of Cathedral&8217;s turnovers.

But when things went dry in the fourth and the Green Wave got better guard play from Keylann Hinson following Gray&8217;s departure, the Cobras couldn&8217;t get it in the basket. Three attempts at a 3-pointer with under 30 seconds left didn&8217;t go after they five for the game.

&8220;Turnovers &8212; it was the name of the game,&8221; Wesson head coach Ron Kessler said. &8220;We turned the ball over and had mental lapses on defense. We let some guys come down the floor wide open. This game was about mental toughness, and tonight we didn&8217;t have it. I tip my hat to Cathedral. Their guys wanted it more tonight, and Coach Arnold has those guys playing hard.&8221;

The Cobras had plenty in their favor midway through the fourth thanks to their guard play. Mason Warren drove the lane for a bucket at the 2:59 mark for two of his 20 points for a 51-48 lead, but that was the last field goal the Cobras had for the game.

Matthew Hall, who led all scorers with 24 points despite suffering a gash to the temple on a collision, tossed in two free throws before Goss caught a pass cutting across the middle of the lane and converted the bucket for a 52-51 lead with 1:26 left.

&8220;When we weren&8217;t able to take care of the ball and turned it over, they were able to create some cheap transition buckets,&8221; Arnold said. &8220;Other than that, we really made them work for everything they got.&8221;

Warren was a big key for the Cobras, and he almost single-handedly kept his team in the game at the start of the fourth quarter. The Cobras had led by six at one point but fell behind 42-37 at the start of the fourth quarter, but Warren put in consecutive buckets to cut the lead to one.

Andy Lucas converted a putback for the Green Wave for a 44-41 lead, but Warren scored again on the other end to put the deficit back at one.

&8220;We didn&8217;t run the floor like we normally do,&8221; Kessler said. &8220;We&8217;re a small but quick team, but we didn&8217;t show it tonight. Our legs aren&8217;t back from the Thanksgiving holidays, and we&8217;ve got to get in better shape. That&8217;s a big plus for us.&8221;

The press gave the Green Wave trouble for a good portion of the game, but Goss prevented that on one play in the fourth quarter to keep the lead. When Chance Peets missed the second of two free throws, Goss came up with it and hit Hall on a deep baseball pass that the wide receiver in football caught up with and tossed in for a layup to break a 52-52 tie with 1:05 left.

&8220;We knew they would press, and they got a bunch of easy buckets from the press,&8221; Goss said. &8220;We&8217;re more of a half-court team. But I saw Matthew running down the court, and he was wide open back there. I thought I overthrew him, but he was able to get it.&8221;

Said Arnold: &8220;That full-court pass was the kind where coaches say, &8216;No, no, no and yes &8212; good play.&8217; That was a tough play to make, and it turned out to give us the lead. I really thought he overthrew him. What a super play on (Hall&8217;s) part.&8221;