NATCHEZ — After a 21-3 first quarter, it appeared the Trinity Saints’ would have no problem getting a victory against Huntington.

But the Hounds made sure the Saints stayed on their toes as the pulled close in an eventual 69-55 win for the home team.

Try as they might, the Hounds couldn’t seem to make a basket in the first quarter, while nearly everything the Saints put up went in the hole.

Jordan Dossett began the charge by sinking a 3-pointer to start the scoring, then scoring from under the net and forcing a turnover for another two Trinity points.

Huntington didn’t even get on the board until Tyler Peré sunk a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left in the first quarter.

“I thought the first quarter was maybe the best quarter we’ve played (this season),” said Trinity coach David King. “We eliminated a lot of turnovers and played some defense, obviously.”

But the Saints let the Hounds get back into it a bit in the second quarter, scoring just 8 points while Huntington put up 15.

Josh Randall and Peré led the Hounds in that quarter.

The Saints came out a bit sluggish in the second half.

Although they scored 21 points in the third quarter, Huntington scored 17 to put the game within closer reach.

But when the Hounds were just 9 points behind the Saints, Trinity turned it on to finish the game, in part by a 6-point play with just a few minutes left in the game.

After Randall hit a 3-pointer for the Hounds, Givonni Dent was fouled by Peré on a layup and sent to the free-throw line.

Peré, who had fouled out, took his shirt off before leaving the court, an automatic technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct that gave Dent two more free throws.

Dent made all four and Trinity got the ball, and Dent scored a second-chance basket seconds later.

King said the Saints are still trying to get out of football mode, which explains some of their struggles later in the game.

“We’ve had six ballgames and five practices,” he said. “We’re still trying to identify ourselves as a team.

“We’re certainly not in basketball shape at this point. We’ve got to get three or four practices together to iron out some details. We’re still trying to put in our offenses and decide who’s guarding who.”

Andrew Johnson led Trinity in scoring with 18 points, recording a double-double with 12 rebounds. He also had three big blocks.

“We’ve got a lot of good guard play. We’ve got Andrew down low, and it’s his senior year so we’re expecting a lot of good things from him,” King said.

Dent put up 14 points, and Brandon Daggs and R.J. Fleming both added 9.

Jeremy Randall put up 23 points for the Hounds, followed by Kevin Brown with 15 and Peré with 10.

“We kind of let them get back in the ballgame in the second half and did just enough to win,” King said. “Traditionally we don’t play our best basketball until after the Christmas break, just due to the extended football seasons we’ve had. We’re not nearly ready to play four quarters yet.”