John Robert Burnett grabbed the rebound of an errant 3-point attempt late in the fourth quarter, dribbled once, then deposited a layup for his final points of the night.

The shot not only gave Burnett his 23rd point of the game, it also dashed any Cathedral hopes of a comeback.

Burnett led four Flashes (13-4, 4-0 Division 7-1A) in double figures as the team remained perfect in the division with a 68-56 victory.

&#8220We did not want to lose to Cathedral,” Burnett said. &#8220We heard they were good so all during the Christmas break, we ran and ran and ran. We were in good shape for this one.”

Burnett’s inside presence – he grabbed 11 rebounds – and Marsh Willis’ outside shooting – he had 20 points and four 3-pointers – proved too much for Cathedral. The Wave played the Flashes almost even through the first two quarters, then took a 37-36 lead midway through the third quarter on a Matt Goss 3-pointer.

They were the final points Cathedral scored in the period as the Flashes closed the quarter on an 11-0 run.

&#8220We had a mental lapse for a couple minutes at the end of the third and they got out to a 10-point lead,” Cathedral coach Peter Arnold said. &#8220I told our guys that we are fighting the battle to get to the top of the hump but we couldn’t get over the hump.”

Goss paced Cathedral with 28 points and Juan Gray added 17.

Trailing by 10 going into the fourth, Cathedral twice got the lead down to five points. Each time, though, the Flashes answered with a run of their own.

&#8220Basketball is a game of spurts,” St. Al coach Drew McBrayer said. &#8220It can go in either direction and the key is to be able to stop that. We would get on a little run and then they would get on a run.”

(G) St. Al 52, Cathedral 32.

Annie Beaugh scored 21 of her game-high 28 points in the second half as St. Aloysius (16-1, 4-0) shook off a sluggish start to overwhelm Cathedral (2-13, 1-3).

Sarah Kerut scored 14 as the Lady Flashes bounced back from their first loss of the season, a setback to Class 3A Franklin County in the championship game of the Lawrence County Tournament.

Kristian Dobard led Cathedral with 10 points, but injured her leg in the second quarter and sank only three free throws in the second half.

Cathedral led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, but did not score a basket in the second quarter and went more than 13 minutes without scoring a basket. Despite the poor outside shooting, St. Al only led by six at the half.

A 33-point second half, however, allowed the hosts to pull away.

&#8220We came out slow and didn’t do a whole lot well in the first half,” McBrayer said. &#8220We came out in the second half and turned the pressure up on them and were able to get some easy baskets.”