The St. Aloysius Flashes stayed right with St. Andrew’s for 24 minutes on Monday night.

It was the first eight that were the problem.

St. Andrew’s sprinted out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and never let the Flashes close the gap. The Saints kept it between 10 and 20 points the rest of the way, and left the gym with a 74-55 victory.

“Once they got the lead it was just hard to come back from it. When you’re playing against a good team, you can’t get down like that,” St. Al coach Delvin Thompson said.

Parker Prater led St. Andrew’s with 18 points, while Nate Carraway and Christian Scott scored 10 apiece.

Rett Verhine led St. Al with 18 points, and Tae Warnsley finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

The Flashes spent the whole game trying to make up for their bad start. They got the deficit to 12 or 13 points on several occasions, but each time St. Andrew’s made a small run to get out of the danger zone.

“We just couldn’t bounce back,” Thompson said. “He has that team well-coached, and if he gets a lead they’re just going to execute you to death. We didn’t make shots tonight, either.”

(G) St. Aloysius 49, St. Andrew’s 34

Grace Upshaw scored 10 of her 16 points in the third quarter, when St. Al outscored St. Andrew’s 20-8, and the Lady Flashes went on to an easy win Monday night.

Alyssa Engel and Michelle Howington scored eight points apiece for St. Al. Claire Gamble had seven.

Howington hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to help give St. Al a lead it never relinquished.

“They executed. They played hard. We had a few turnovers, but other than that we played hard,” Thompson said.

It was the first of three consecutive nights of games for St. Al. It’ll play at McLaurin tonight, then host the Mississippi School for the Deaf on Wednesday in the Division 7-1A opener.

After its busy week, St. Al will have nine days off before playing at Pelahatchie on Jan. 16.