Overtime was not kind to either the St. Aloysius boys or girls Friday night against Stringer.

Four free throws by Perry Williams in the final 23 seconds of the first overtime lifted the Stringer boys to a 80-75 win.

In the girls game, Jalisa Wilson made two free throws with no time on the clock to pace the Stringer girls to a 66-64 win in double overtime against the Lady Flashes.

The nearly four hours of basketball left both St. Al teams winless in Division 6-1A after three games. Both teams will have less than 24 hours to recover as Pisgah comes in for a doubleheader, starting today at 4 p.m.

“Those were two tough losses,” St. Al coach Gary Miller said. “We had a chance to win both of them. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight it didn’t. Maybe our time will come the next time.”

The St. Al boys (3-8, 0-3) had to play the first half without its best player, Alex Lanier, because of a state suspension following his ejection from last Friday’s game at Sebastapol due to two technical fouls.

“It’s a state rule and he had to sit out the whole first half. It may have been a different game, if we have him the whole game,” Miller said.

Lanier had to wait nearly six minutes of the third quarter before registering his first points. He then turned it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 of his 20 points. His two free throws, followed by a runner from Ford Biedenharn, gave St. Al a three-point lead at 65-62 with 1:23 left in regulation. Stringer answered with a 3-pointer from Williams and a two-pointer from Marcus Bolton to put them up 67-65. Sean Johnson answered for the Flashes on a drive to send the game into overtime, tied at 67.

Despite losing its best player, Darius Beavers,  in overtime, Stringer took advantage with a basket and two free throws by Williams to go up 77-73 with 29 seconds left.

St. Al was wounded when a low pass by the Red Devils was ruled to have skipped off the legs of Joseph Brown. The ball, though, never hit Brown and Miller got a technical called on him for arguing that point.

Stringer coach Mark Vaughn was just glad his team did enough to get the win and even its record at 2-2.

“We didn’t shoot particularly well and didn’t play that good on defense either, but hustled and stayed in there,” Vaughn said.

Beavers and Williams each finished with 21 points to lead Stringer. Marcus Bolton, who hit two treys in the first quarter to stake Stringer to a 24-15 lead, had 12 and Ervin Gavin chipped in 10.

Sean Johnson kept St. Al alive in the first half as Lanier sat. He had 20 points. Brown ended with 15.

(G) Stringer 66, St. Al 64

The Lady Flashes trailed 49-41 with 2:38 left in regulation but Katie Koestler and Tori Hines fueled a comeback, with a 12-3 run that put St. Al ahead with 38 seconds left at 52-51. But a free throw by Wilson, with 29 seconds left, sent it into overtime.

St. Al’s best chance to win came in the first overtime when two free throws by Koestler, with 43 seconds left, put the Lady Flashes up 56-54. Stringer needed a running left-handed shot from Leah Woods to force a second overtime.

A free throw by Ann Cauthen gave St. Al (2-9, 0-3) its last lead with 33 seconds left in the second overtime. Stringer scored to go up one and then Carlye Smith retied the game at 64 after hitting one of two free throws. Following an inbounds pass, Wilson jumped into Smith as time expired and was given two free throws. She made both. Koestler had 23 points for St. Al while Hines had 17 and Smith had 16. Wilson led Stringer with 21.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com