Bogue Chitto’s Irrie Catchings, left, bloodies the nose of St. Aloysius’ Brian Dyess during the Flashes’ 59-47 upset of the Bobcats on Friday night. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[1/10/04]Kyle Richards scored 21 of his team-high 25 points in the second half as St. Aloysius came from behind to defeat Region 7-1A rival Bogue Chitto 59-47 on Friday.

The Flashes (6-8, 4-1) reeled off a 12-0 run between the third and fourth quarters to pull ahead by eight points with five minutes remaining. They held on to win and remain tied for first place in the region.

“It’s a big win anytime we can beat Bogue Chitto, with their reputation as a basketball program,” St. Al coach Paul Hayden said. “They’ve always had some good teams, and it showed again tonight.”

The Flashes shot 25-of-56 (.446) and hit 4-of-13 (.308) from behind the arc. Anthony Rector turned in a solid all-around performance with nine points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Drew Mazzanti added 10 points.

“We just knew we needed to win and came out, sucked it up and adjusted a little bit on defense and pulled it off,” Richards said.

Irrie Catchings carried the Bobcats (7-11, 2-3) throughout the game, scoring 26 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. But Richards, along with double-team help, contained Catchings in the second half.

Without Catchings involved in the offense, Bogue Chitto was unable to play with any consistency.

“I’m trying to instill every night that we go out we’ve got to expect to win,” Bogue Chitto coach Jason Kennedy said. “We’ve got the horses to do it, we just don’t have the right mentality.”

Bogue Chitto shot 9-of-29 (.310) in the second half to finish 21-of-59 (.356) for the night. St. Al also outrebounded the Bobcats 34-28.

“This is probably one of our better defensive and rebounding games,” Hayden said. “It’s one of the things we’ve worked on the last two practices going into these games.”

Bogue Chitto led 24-20 at halftime, pushed on by Catchings’ 16 points. The Flashes tied the game at 24 early in the third quarter, but soon found themselves behind again. Catchings hit a 10-foot jumper to bring the Bobcats’ lead to 37-33 with 1:23 left in the third when St. Al began its run.

The Flashes took the 39-37 lead when Mazzanti found Richards under the goal for an easy layup to end the third quarter.

They extended it to 45-37 when Richards followed a Mazzanti layup with a short fadeaway shot to complete the 12-0 run.

St. Al used isolations to get Richards the ball throughout the second half, and he responded with a hard-nosed effort.

“I knew that what I was doing in the first half wasn’t working,” he said. “I was fading away, playing soft. I knew I had some size advantage on the guy, and I just had to go hard on him.”

(G) Bogue Chitto 50, St. Al 37

In an emotionally heated game that nearly saw several players get into fights, Bogue Chitto’s extra effort paid off for the win.

Marley Porter scored a team-high 12 points on 4-of-6 from behind the arc for the Lady Bobcats, and Chastity Avants added 11 points and eight assists.

Bogue Chitto led 22-16 at halftime and 34-29 after three quarters. Leading 41-37 with 1:26 left, the Lady Bobcats poured it on with a 9-0 run during the final stretch for the win.

“We got out of our style,” Hayden said. “They came out and played very aggressive. Bogue Chitto is notorious for that. They’re a very aggressive team, and they don’t expect to lose when they step on a court.”

Sarah Kerut netted a game-high 17 points for the Lady Flashes, who were unable to overcome their 27 turnovers. St. Al shot 13-of-44 (.295) on the night.