Lewis paces St. Aloysius past Pelahatchie

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 28, 2009

St. Aloysius Senior Chris Lewis saved the biggest night of his season for Senior Night.

Lewis paced the Flashes with a game-best 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead St. Al past Pelahatchie 63-50 Tuesday night.

Fellow senior Alex Lanier chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Flashes (12-11, 6-6 Division 7-1A) went over the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Email newsletter signup

Sign up for The Vicksburg Post's free newsletters

Check which newsletters you would like to receive
  • Vicksburg News: Sent daily at 5 am
  • Vicksburg Sports: Sent daily at 10 am
  • Vicksburg Living: Sent on 15th of each month

“I had a good practice on Monday and was feeling pretty good for this game,” Lewis said. “They seemed to focus a lot on Alex and that made it easier for our guards to get the ball to me.”

St. Al coach Gary Miller said the win keeps the Flashes in line for a possible No. 4 seed in the division tournament in two weeks.

“It helps. We’re still somewhere in the middle but we have to go to Mount Olive and Pisgah,” Miller said. “I thought everybody did their job well tonight. Chris came to play, but I thought the whole team played well. We got the ball where it we needed it to be.”

Down 4-0, the Flashes went on a 12-0 run to take control of the game. Lewis was the big reason why, scoring four baskets after taking good entry passes from Luke Burnett and Sean Johnson.

Up 14-8 after one quarter, Johnson hit three straight 3-pointers to boost the lead to 23-8. Burnett and Lanier each hit a trey as well as St. Al enjoyed a 50 percent shooting first half to lead 33-19 at the break.

Lanier and Lewis continued to control the lane with four baskets apiece as the Flashes took a 49-30 lead after three quarters. Johnson then dropped his fourth 3-pointer of the game to hand St. Al its largest lead at 21, 54-33, with 5:48 to go.

Pelahatchie (4-13) finally went on a run after a three-point play by Darryan Ragsdale ignited a 12-1 spurt. Lanie Davis’ basket capped the run to make it 55-45 with 2:40 left.

The Chiefs would cut it to nine with 1:29 left on a 3-pointer by Labrandon Hill but the Flashes answered with Lanier hitting two free throws with 32 seconds left and Lewis finishing things off with four straight free throws in the final 19 seconds.

Johnson ended with 12 points while Ragsdale led Pelahatchie with 18.

Pelahatchie girls beat St. Al 70-49

Allison Boyd and Andrea King scored 20 points apiece to lead the Lady Chiefs past St. Al (6-19, 3-9).

The loss was the final home game for Lady Flashes seniors Katie Koestler and Aden Rials. Carlye Smith led St. Al with 15 and Tori Hines had 12. St. Al trailed 46-27 at the half and 60-34 after three quarters.

*

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.