[1/14/04]In the blink of an eye, the St. Aloysius boys basketball team collapsed.

Riverside reeled off a 16-2 run during the final stretch and the Bulldogs defeated the Flashes 49-38 on Tuesday night.

James Coleman grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and scored 12 points to lead four Riverside players in double figures.

The game was rife with mistakes and sloppy play.

The Bulldogs (5-10) committed 21 turnovers. Not to be outdone, the Flashes (6-9) gave the ball away 26 times and notched their lowest point total since an 82-36 loss to Loyd Star on Dec. 2. Each team also shot below 35 percent from the field.

“It was ugly,” St. Al’s Kyle Richards said. “They fought back on us, got the lead and then they stalled it. We just panicked and threw the game away.

“There’s no way that team’s better than us.”

Richards scored 17 points during the first three quarters, but was shut out during the final quarter. The Flashes struggled with their shooting all around, finishing 4-of-19 (21 percent) from behind the arc and 2-of-8 from the free-throw line.

“We went back to what we did in the beginning of the year, turning the ball over, little mistakes. We reverted back,” St. Al coach Paul Hayden said. “We weren’t focused. We weren’t ready to play the game even from the start.”

Anthony Rector hit a corner 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game to give St. Al a 36-33 edge.

Riverside then went on a 14-0 run fueled by careless errors from the Flashes. Five minutes later, Rector’s layup finally ended the barrage with the Bulldogs ahead 47-38.

“We had opportunities to make runs and we didn’t make them,” Hayden said. “Right there at the end, we made a couple mistakes and boom, before you knew it, it was a 10-point lead and we looked like we didn’t know where to be.”

(G) Riverside 46, St. Al 36

Chantelle McKinley scored a game-high 18 points to help Riverside hold off St. Aloysius.

The Lady Flashes (7-8) shot a woeful 14-of-57 (25 percent) as they were held below 40 points for the third straight game.

Sarah Kerut finished with seven points on 2-of-16 shooting, including 1-of-7 from 3-point range.

“There was a cover over the basket for us,” Hayden said. “That’s probably one of our worst-ever shooting games.”

It was also a tough night in the lane. Led by Britney Winterstein’s 11 boards, Riverside (9-6) held a 44-26 rebounding edge on St. Al.

(B) Porters Chapel 59, SIA 49

Chip Lofton scored a game-high 18 points and Ryan Hoben netted 14, including four 3-pointers, as the Eagles (9-9, 4-5) recorded a key conference win.

Zach McDaniel and Jordan Clark scored 10 points apiece for Sharkey-Issaquena.

Porters Chapel led 32-23 at the half. The Confederates pulled to within six points at the end of the third, but got no closer.

(G) SIA 50, Porters Chapel 28

Sharkey-Issaquena (16-10) held PCA’s leading scorer, Annie Beaugh, to 14 points in the blowout. Allison Horn scored 10 points, but the rest of the Lady Eagles combined for four points.

Nikki Wilson scored a game-high 25 points for SIA.

(B) Hinds AHS 63, Wesson 40

Mario Webb just missed a triple-double, notching 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead Hinds AHS past Wesson.

The War Dawgs had a 32-20 lead at halftime and extended it further in the second half.

Herman Johnson netted 15 points in the losing effort.