St. Aloysius boys basketball coach Eddie Pickle was worried about how his team would respond to an early tip time for Saturday’s Red Carpet Basketball Classic.
Worried, it turned out, for good reason.

The Flashes committed a number of unforced turnovers and sleepwalked through most of the game. When they did rally and make a run, Greenville-St. Joe had all the answers. Trey Benson and C.J. Moore combined to score 18 of the Irish’s 20 points in the fourth quarter, and Greenville St. Joe beat the Flashes 77-68.

Benson finished with 14 points and Moore scored 10 for Greenville-St. Joe. Dillon Johnson finished with 30, with 24 of those coming in the first half.

Isaiah Thomas led St. Al (10-6) with 17 points off the bench and Alvin Brown scored 14. The Flashes, though, could not overcome their self-inflicted wounds. They fell behind by 14 points halfway through the second quarter and spent most of the game playing catch up.

“When we came out of the half down seven or eight, I had a feeling my guys hadn’t woke up yet. It’s Saturday and they’re used to sleeping until noon. I had a feeling it was going to be a little bit of a barnburner. None of our shots were falling and we couldn’t make free throws,” Pickle said. “You know what, though? In the grand scheme of things? That wasn’t a district game. I have a bunch of seniors that it’s their first time to play in (the Red Carpet Classic). I hate that they didn’t get a chance to take the trophy home. But they’ll learn from it.”

For a brief moment, things did click for the Flashes. Thomas converted a three-point play with 2:13 left in the third quarter to key a 10-0 run, and Brown made a layup in the final minute to give them a 53-52 lead.

Greenville-St. Joe, however, scored the last five points of the quarter — including an open 3-pointer at the buzzer by Kaleb Lockett — to go back in front 57-52.

The waning moments of the fourth quarter featured a similar scenario. Trinye Brown made a 3-pointer to pull St. Al within four points, at 68-64. Seconds later Moore made a 3-pointer and Benson a transition layup to put St. Joe ahead 73-64 with 1:14 left in the game, and the Irish were never threatened again.

“They hit a couple of 3-pointers and it just shocked the heck out of us,” Pickle said. “I don’t know if you saw me throw the towel in the air. That’s kind of how it’s went for us this year. We’ll make a run, and then all of a sudden somebody will pull a rabbit out of their hat. We’d score and then they’d come back and score right behind us. That’s basketball.”

The loss was a sour end to a good week for St. Al. They had won three in a row coming into the Red Carpet Classic to pull out of a stretch in which they’d lost five of six. Pickle wasn’t overly concerned about the uneven play over the long haul, however.

St. Al will host Park Place in a District 3-AAA game on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

“We’ve played some good teams,” Pickle said. “We’re just having a hard time finding how to win the close ones.”

(G) Greenville-St. Joe 60, St. Aloysius 41
Ashanti Brown scored 28 points, and Greenville-St. Joe used two big runs to pull away from the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes in the Red Carpet Basketball Classic.

St. Joe closed the first half with an 11-0 run to take a 14-point lead into halftime. It then used a 9-0 surge at the end of the third quarter to go up 47-29 after St. Al had closed the gap.

Taylor Chewning led St. Al with 17 points, and Anna Gatlin scored nine.