[11/24/04]St. Aloysius showed its youth and inexperience on Tuesday.

The Flashes, who had five new starters this season, held close with St. Andrew’s for three quarters before falling apart in the fourth quarter en route to a 56-44 loss. The Saints pressured the Flashes down the stretch, leading to turnovers and easy buckets.

“We outhustled them the whole game, but we missed a couple easy layups and dropped a couple of passes at the end,” said Chase Smith, who led St. Al (0-4) with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“We made a little run there in the fourth quarter with our defense,” St. Andrew’s coach Todd Yates said. “We were able to get some easy baskets.”

Trey Frazer lit up the Flashes for 32 points on 13-of-28 shooting, and Bradford Blackmon added 10 points for the Saints.

“(Frazer) was the focal point of the offense,” Smith said. “He’d rotate sides of the court and they’d set two or three screens at a time for him.”

For the game, St. Andrew’s shot 50 percent (23 of 56), while St. Al hit only 17 of 53 shots (32 percent). But first-year coach Drew McBrayer was proud of his team’s effort throughout the game.

“I’ve been preaching to these guys effort and defensive intensity, and I think they’re finally buying into it,” he said. “This was the first time all year we hadn’t been outworked.”

The Flashes stumbled out of the gates as they couldn’t buy a basket in the first quarter. J.R. Burnett finally hit St. Al’s first field goal with 14 seconds left in the quarter.

Still, the Flashes trailed only 12-6, and they trimmed the lead to 25-22 at halftime with the help of a pair of 3-pointers from Chris Johnson.

The two sides remained close heading into the final quarter, where St. Andrew’s pulled away. Ahead 45-40, the Saints got back-to-back layups from turnovers to go up by nine.

Marsh Willis then hit a pair of free throws for the Flashes after a technical foul on the Saints’ Brent Smith to cut the lead to 49-42 with 2:50 left to play. But Frazer scored five of the Saints’ seven straight points as they put the game away.

“The turnovers late in the game are frustrating, but those guys don’t have much experience late in the game,” McBrayer said. “It’s going to be a work in progress.”

(G) St. Andrew’s 46, St. Al 27

LaReina Adams posted a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds, nearly outscoring the Lady Flashes.

Both sides struggled to make baskets, shooting below 25 percent, but St. Andrew’s was able to take 30 more attempts because of St. Al’s 30 turnovers. The Lady Saints turned the ball over 12 times.

Sarah Kerut led the Lady Flashes (1-3) with 10 points. Bonney Neill grabbed 18 rebounds, and Sara Burrell had 14 boards.