NATCHEZ — The Trinity Episcopal Saints moved closer to clinching at least a share of the MAIS District 7-A championship after taking care of the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Rams 73-24 Tuesday night.

Trinity Episcopal needed a win to stay in a first-place tie with Tallulah Academy in the district standings. And thanks to a strong defensive effort and four players scoring in double figures, the Saints got just that.

The Saints did not take long to take a double-digit lead and by the time the first quarter was over, they had a 27-7 lead over the Rams.

The Saints outscored the Rams 24-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 51-16 advantage.

“They played very well,” Rogel said. “We started out with full-court pressure. That created a lot of turnovers. That set the tone for the game,”

With the outcome well in hand, Rogel put his reserves in during the second half.

Kevontaye Caston led the Saints with a game-high 19 points and Jakarius Caston finished with 17 points. Demond Fleming added 16 points and Cade Wells chipped in with 11 points.

“Everyone equally had a good game. Everybody stepped up and made plays when their number was called,” Rogel said.

Trinity Episcopal (9-7, 6-1) plays host to Franklin Academy Thursday night. The Saints will need a win and possibly some help to win the district title and claim the district’s No. 1 seed for next week’s Class A South State Tournament.

“All we can control is what we do with Franklin Academy and then see where the chips fall,” Rogel said.

Cathedral 69, Piney Woods 25

NATCHEZ — R.J. Givens led all scorers with 15 point and James Coley had 10 points as the Cathedral Green Wave defeated the Piney Woods Tornadoes 69-25 in an MHSAA Division 7-1A game Tuesday night.

After a sluggish and sloppy second quarter, Cathedral had its way with Piney Woods on both ends of the court in the second half. The Green Wave outscored the Tornadoes 23-2 in the third quarter and 20-6 in the fourth quarter.

“After a big game last night (its upset win over Class 1A No. 1 Salem), we started the first quarter OK. The second group came in, and we played lousy in the second quarter,” Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold said. “Just lazy defense. They were taking chances and trying to make the steal. Nobody rotated over and we gave up easy lay-ups. Offensively, their was sloppy passing. It was not inspiring.”

The Green Wave jumped out to a 15-4 lead after one quarter of play, but the Tornadoes outscored them 13-11 in the second quarter to go into halftime down just 26-17.

“We had a little talk at halftime and came out fired up in the third quarter,” Arnold said. “That was one of our best quarters of the year. Defensively, everybody was rotating well. It was good to see.”

Arnold said that Givens was proficient around the basket, which is where most of his scoring comes from.

“He’s been our leading scorer all season. He doesn’t get a lot of shots every game, but he’s very efficient. He’s been the one player who’s been consistent all season,” Arnold said.

Cathedral (7-9, 5-3) plays host to Bogue Chitto Friday night.

Ferriday 67, Winnfield 38

WINNFIELD, La. — Dantrieze Scott led Ferriday High School with 18 points and Shannon Morales added 12 points as the Trojans rolled to a 67-38 road win over the Winnfield High School Tigers Tuesday night in LHSAA District 2-2A action.

Ronald Williams also scored in double figures for Ferriday with 10 points. The Trojans dominated Winnfield on both ends of the court in the first quarter and by the time that quarter was over, the had a 21-4 lead over the Tigers.

“We jumped out on them early. We played aggressively on defense early and jumped out to a real good lead,” Ferriday head coach K.G. Watkins said. “We moved the ball decently and got some balanced scoring. All the starters got on the board.”

The Tigers outscored the Trojans 13-10 in the second quarter to trail 31-17 at halftime, but the Trojans reestablished themselves early in the second half. Ferriday outscored Winnfield 21-16 in the third quarter and 16-5 in the fourth quarter.

“We tried to assert ourselves in the third quarter and then play strong in the fourth,” Watkins said.

With the win, Ferriday improved to 14-10 overall and 7-1 in district play with two home games remaining in the regular season. The first of those games takes place Friday night when the Trojans host Oak Grove.

“We are really happy right now with 7-1 and to be leading district with two home games left. Now is the time when we need to start learning to finish and how to play together and execute,” Watkins said. “These games are prelims for the playoffs, and we need to take advantage of playing from start to finish. We are looking to do that the next couple of games. We aren’t going to cruise.”

Oak Grove 74, Natchez High 60

HATTIESBURG — The first and fourth quarters were brutal to the Natchez High School Bulldogs in a 74-50 loss to the MHSAA Class 6A Oak Grove High School Warriors 74-60 Tuesday night.

Natchez High was unable to do much offensively in the first quarter and trailed Oak Grove 17-9. The next two quarters saw the Bulldogs play much better on their end of the court, but they still could not make enough stops defensively to make much of a dent in the Warriors’ lead.

Both teams put up 21 points in the second quarter and the Bulldogs outscored the Warriors just 16-13 in the third quarter to be down 51-46 heading into the fourth quarter. But Oak Grove would not led Natchez High get any closer and the Warriors outscored the Bulldogs 23-14 in the final quarter.

The Bulldogs were led by Micheal Morris with 19 points and Ja’Darrius Ivory with 12 points.

Natchez High (10-6) travels to Jackson to take on Wingfield Friday night in the final Division 6-5A game of the regular season.

Vidalia 58, Avoyelles 39

VIDALIA — Overton Lewis led Vidalia High School with a game-high 20 points and Demarco Brown poured in 16 points as the Vikings defeated the Avoyelles High School Mustangs 58-39 Tuesday night in an LHSAA District 3-3A game.

Vidalia took control of this game in the early minutes and led Avoyelles 20-6 after one quarter of play. The Vikings went into halftime with a 34-17 lead and they made sure the Mustangs would not get back in the game thanks to a 19-12 advantage in the third quarter for a commanding 53-29 lead.

Malik Jefferson also scored in double figures for the Vikings as he finished with 10 points.

Vidalia (13-9, 4-2) next plays at Jena Friday night.

Crystal Springs 50, Jefferson County 30

CRYSTAL SPRINGS — Miquell Powell led Crystal Springs High School with a game-high 15 points and Zavion King chipped in with 12 points as the host Tigers defeated the visiting Jefferson County High School Tigers 50-30 in an MHSAA Division 7-3A game Tuesday night.

It was a rough game all around for Jefferson County. The visiting Tigers failed to reach double-digit scoring in the three of the four quarters and leading scorer Christian Day was held to just four points.