NATCHEZ &8212; Tripp Bryant is confident where his Trinity Episcopal teammates are right now, but he&8217;s even more confident at the thought of the post-holiday time when the basketball season kicks into high gear.

By then maybe the Saints will find that one person to consistently knock down mid-range jumpers.

And who knows &8212; it may very well be Bryant with the assignment.

The purpose &8212; and refrain from coaches so far this season &8212; is to find someone to help take the load off Stevan Ridley down low when he gets double- and triple-teamed.

That was the case Thursday against Central Private, and the Saints didn&8217;t have anyone to hit the short jumpers.

But others stepped up. The Saints took a 48-47 win over the Rebels for a rare season sweep of the Class AAA program.

&8220;They&8217;re a 3A school, and it&8217;s always good to beat a 3A school,&8221; Bryant said. &8220;They&8217;re still pretty good. We&8217;re starting to come together a little bit more as a team. We kind of knew they were going to do that (to Ridley). That&8217;s what most teams do. When he&8217;d get the ball, they&8217;d all crash on him.&8221;

Not that it&8217;s anything new. Teams are well aware of the junior&8217;s ability inside, but on a night when he scored six points and spent some time on the bench, the Saints had to find a way to generate offense and keep playing hard on defense to keep the lead.

Central Private got hot late with both teams taking turns with the lead. But the final two minutes didn&8217;t feature a score, and Matt Creel &8212; who scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter &8212; couldn&8217;t get a shot to fall just before the buzzer.

Kris Ford came up with the rebound to preserve the win.

&8220;We weren&8217;t stopping him, and I figured they&8217;d do that,&8221; Trinity head coach David King said. &8220;I always like to change defenses in timeouts. It was two good teams getting after it. They&8217;re down from what they have been, but it&8217;s a big win going into Christmas. I&8217;m happy to go into the break at 8-3, but I&8217;d like to have that Columbia game back.&8221;

Neither team could get a good look at the basket in the final two minutes, and the Saints switched to a box-and-one earlier on Creel to slow him down. The Rebels had a turnover with just over a minute left, and they were called for an offensive foul on their next trip down the floor.

The Saints, however, were called for traveling with 18 seconds left to give the Rebels a last chance to get the win. Creel had the shot from close range but couldn&8217;t hit it.

&8220;I&8217;m real proud of the kids,&8221; said CP head coach Jason Norris, who starts two sophomores and a junior. &8220;We played a lot harder. Last time they beat us by more, and this time we gave ourselves an opportunity to win. If (we) keep doing that, we&8217;ll give ourselves a chance to make some noise at the end of the season.&8221;

The Rebels kept Ridley under wraps in the second half by holding him scoreless, but the Saints got key buckets from Bryant and Parker Brumfield to stay in the game. Brumfield hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth after the score was tied at 35 after three, and Bryant hit the first of two buckets as both teams traded baskets and the lead.

Bryant canned a short jumper from the side at the 4:44 mark for a 42-41 lead, but the Rebels answered with a Creel basket on a putback. Brumfield then hit another 3-pointer for a 45-43 lead, but the Rebels got two baskets from Creel to take a 47-45 lead.

Kris Ford then scored on a pass from Ridley to tie it up, and Bryant hit onen of two free throws at the 2:12 mark for the 48-47 lead.

&8220;They&8217;d front (Ridley) and play behind him,&8221; Bryant said. &8220;That&8217;s what it seemed like at first after I drove a couple of times &8212; they started keying on me.&8221;

Brumfield hit three 3-pointers for the game to finish with 16 points. Bryant&8217;s ability to take it to the basket helped him end up with 14.

&8220;Tripp is a guy who came to us two years ago from Briarfield and didn&8217;t hardly get to play there,&8221; King said. &8220;He has a lot of athletic ability, and I think he turned a corner tonight and had a pretty good game. I thought (point guard) Jon Davis (King) had his best game as far as running our half-court stuff.&8221;

But then there&8217;s that one item on his Christmas list.

&8220;If we can find somebody to hit that (short) jumper, we&8217;ll be a good basketball team,&8221; King said. &8220;We&8217;ve got to find somebody to take the pressure off Stevan on that block.&8221;