NATCHEZ &8212; You had to watch closely, or you&8217;d miss it.

All it took was one bad pass for West Lincoln to pounce on the ball, race down the floor and toss in an uncontested bucket. It often times happened in a second or two, but it may have seemed like it was in slow motion for the Cathedral Green Wave, who had to watch the Bears increase their point total on the scoreboard without much flucutatoin on their side.

The Bears&8217; half-court man-to-man defense was the biggest culprit in the Wave&8217;s 68-43 Division 7-1A loss at home Friday night. And it gives Cathedral a clear objective of what to work over the holiday break.

&8220;If we made a turnover, it was always a fast break,&8221; CHS forward Matthew Hall said. &8220;If we can get the ball to the wing and get it inside, that&8217;s our strong point. If we do that, I don&8217;t think anybody can stop us. They came out in a man, and we knew what to do. We were making stupid passes.&8221;

That didn&8217;t happen too many times for the Green Wave, but it wasn&8217;t all mistakes on the home team&8217;s part. West Lincoln had its quick guards on the perimeter who made a living anticipating passes, knocking it loose and beating everyone down the floor for a bucket.

Too much of that happened to Cathedral in the second and third quarter when the Bears converted a modest 15-11 lead to a 58-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

&8220;The pressure on their guards &8212; that probably caused a lot of turnovers for them,&8221; West Lincoln head coach Layne Young said. &8220;When they did get it inside &8212; if they got it inside &8212; they did pretty good. If you&8217;re doing a pretty good job on their guards, it&8217;s hard to get it inside. We knew Hall and (Matt) Goss stepping out was their main threat.&8221;

The defense kept Goss from getting the ball on the perimeter for a good portion of the game, and if he did get it outside he didn&8217;t have many uncontested shots. Yet the two were the Green Wave&8217;s only two scorers until nearly three minutes into the fourth quarter when Matt Marchbanks tossed in a bucket, but by that time the Green Wave (0-2, 6-6) was down by 27 points.

But the damage was done in the second quarter when the Bears (2-1, 9-3) took off on a 14-2 run to break the game open. Three buckets were layups off steals, including one from Stephen Jones that put the lead at 27-13.

Jeremy Byrd followed that with a bucket to end the run for a 29-13 lead at the 2:47 mark, and the Green Wave didn&8217;t answer until Hall put in a basket when he drove baseline off a putback with 42 seconds left in the half.

&8220;We couldn&8217;t make a pass,&8221; CHS head coach Peter Arnold said. &8220;The bottom line was we did not take care of the ball out front because they were over-playing every pass. When somebody is over-playing, you&8217;re supposed to pump-fake and go behind them. We just didn&8217;t do it.

&8220;We got impatient and tried to push the ball up the floor the whole second quarter. I don&8217;t think we ever settled down and ran the offense. We dug ourselves in a deep hole, and it just continued in the third quarter.&8221;

Hall was the only scorer for Cathedral in the third quarter when his eight points were all the Wave put up. But the Bears put up plenty on their end both off turnovers and in the half-court.

When things slowed down, Cathedral set up in a 2-3 zone in the third quarter. That&8217;s when West Lincoln got three 3-pointers from Shane Lynch and another from Jones to out-score Cathedral 29-8 in the quarter.

The two combined for three straight triples after a Hall bucket at the 4:45 mark cut it to 39-22. Then at the buzzer Lynch canned a 3-pointer, drew a foul and sank the free throw for a 58-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Lynch finished with 20 points.

&8220;I&8217;ve seen them play a couple of times, and they&8217;ve slowed the game down,&8221; Young said. &8220;We&8217;re just the opposite. We&8217;ve kind of been in a funk, but today we got out there and ran the floor. Lynch has been struggling the last three games, and he struggled the first half. He really stepped up and made some shots the second half.&8221;

Goss finally got hot in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter after both teams started to yank their starters, and he had two 3-pointers to finish with 17 points. Hall&8217;s 20 points led the Green Wave.

&8220;Our best basketball is ahead,&8221; Hall said. &8220;We have to come out and run our offense. We don&8217;t run with teams. We&8217;ve got to have a nice, slow game. Normally in the past (West Lincoln) has had one or two guys that have taken over the game, but now they&8217;re more of a team. Shane Lynch &8212; he&8217;s all-district. He&8217;s really good.&8221;