With a four-game winning streak in hand, the St. Aloysius boys basketball team is beginning to see the wisdom of new coach Penn Majors.

Running a variety of offensive sets, the Flashes enter mid-December with a 6-2 record and an eye on successfully defending their Division 7-1A championship. They won the Catholic Schools Tournament last week at Gulfport St. John and then routed Wesson 68-46 at home Tuesday night.

&#8220Coach Majors is a real good coach who has a lot of offenses,” St. Al senior center J.R. Burnett said. &#8220We’re doing a little bit better with it every game we play. We may have been able to pick up on it even better if we could go 5-on-5.”

The Flashes have only nine players and four of them were playing football until mid-November.

&#8220This situation is somewhat like what I faced at East Rankin,” said Majors who has made a name in Central Mississippi as a kind of stop-gap coach. &#8220I came in late, pretty much right in the middle of football season and had to put together a team. We wound up having a good record.”

Majors is serving as a para-professional coach this season at St. Al, which lost its coach over the summer when Drew McBrayer left for an assistant’s job at New Hope High School. Majors’ primary occupation is being the owner of Arrow Printing in Clinton.

But the former Clinton High coach and Hinds Community College assistant has taken the occasional basketball position, winning the Mississippi Private School Association’s Overall championship in 2003 while at Hillcrest Christian.

At St. Al, the Flashes started 2-2 before the current streak started.

&#8220We’ve been doing better here lately. We’ve finally been together enough that we’re starting to get on the same page. They are picking up on what I want to do,” Majors said.

&#8220We’re a lot more organized,” said St. Al senior Chris Johnson, who provides the Flashes with an outside shooting presence. &#8220A lot of his offense is built around the shuffle cut and it’s been real effective for us.”

Johnson is one of five returning starters back for the Flashes off a 21-9 team.

&#8220I think the big thing for us was getting the football guys in sync,” said Chase Smith, who’s averaging more than 23 points per game over the last four. &#8220We’re executing better and we know what he’s talking about.

&#8220We ran a lot of this last year, but we’re running it better this year. One difference is when we face a man defense, I’m helping Chip (Donald) out more with running the play. If they go zone, then I’m going to be inside.”

Burnett’s role has stayed the same. He’s the bruiser.

&#8220I pretty much scrape for rebounds. But the more times we play, the more different looks we can give to teams,” Burnett said.

Against Wesson, St. Al had four players in double figures led by Smith’s 23. Marsh Willis had 14, followed by Burnett with 13 and Johnson with 12. The Flashes also had 17 assists in the game with Johnson, Smith and Willis having at least four apiece.

&#8220We still haven’t learned all things we’re going to do,” Majors said. &#8220But we did better on the Coast and you can see them going in a positive direction. We’re getting a little stronger with each game.”

The schedule will get tougher before and after Christmas. St. Al is playing in the Wesson Tournament where Raleigh, a quality Class 3A team, is in the field. After the New Year, the Flashes will play in the Lawrence County Tournament which will also feature 3A power Franklin County.

The game Smith is looking toward is the next one.

&#8220We go to West Lincoln next Tuesday. I think with five starters back, we should do well again in the league, but we’ll know a lot after that game,” Smith said.

West Lincoln defeated St. Al in last season’s Division 7-1A Tournament.