A beefed-up St. Aloysius basketball team needed every bit of toughness to defeat an undersized Madison-St. Joe team on Tuesday night, 55-46.

The St. Al girls remained unbeaten, whipping the Lady Bruins 65-48.

Second-year coach Drew McBrayer said the boys contest was one rugged affair.

&#8220That may have been the most physical game our boys have played in my 1 1/2 years here,” McBrayer said. &#8220The good thing for us is that we’re a lot more physical this year. It’s one of the things we’re doing better.”

The Flashes improved to 4-2 heading into this weekend’s Catholic Schools Tournament at St. Al. The three-team tourney begins Friday when the Flashes host Greenville St. Joe.

Madison St. Joe’s quickness made it hard for St. Al to get into any offensive rhythm in the first half. The Flashes trailed 15-8 after one quarter before pulling to within one at 21-20 by halftime.

St. Al finally took its first lead of the game when Chris Baer hit an 8-foot runner. Two isolated post plays to Chase Smith pushed the lead to 26-21. Marsh Willis then hit a 3-pointer off a missed free throw, capping a 12-2 run to open the second half.

It was 36-29 going into the fourth quarter.

&#8220When we got into our offense, we did well. But in the fourth quarter, we seem to get too far ahead of ourselves,” McBrayer said.

The result was six turnovers in the first three minutes of the quarter. The good news for St. Al, however, was that every time the Bruins would score, the Flashes would answer.

Willis and Chris Johnson each produced a countering basket to keep the lead at eight points. Then with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left, Smith hit two free throws to give St. Al a 10-point lead at 49-39.

Smith finished with 20 points to lead the Flashes. Willis chipped in 11, while J.R. Burnett and Johnson each had eight.

St. Joe (2-4) was led by Justin Davis’ 20 points.

(G) St. Al 65, St. Joe 48

A strong second quarter made it an easy night for the now 6-0 Lady Flashes.

A basket by Kayla Childress erased Madison St. Joe’s last lead of the night at 13-12 late in the first quarter. The Lady Flashes then went on to outscore the Lady Bruins 29-6 in the second stanza to take a commanding 43-19 halftime lead.

&#8220We’re happy we did well in the first half,” St. Al senior point guard Amy Beaugh said. &#8220We haven’t been that strong in the first half in our other games.”

Annie Beaugh scored 14 of her game-high 27 points in the second quarter, and Sarah Kerut scored 14.

(B) Vicksburg 61, Hinds AHS 53

Jonathan Phelps scored a game-high 22 points and Brandon Harper netted 18 to lead the Gators.

Tony Ammons added 13 points in the victory.

The Gators trailed by four at halftime, but outscored Hinds 38-26 in the second half.

(G) Hinds AHS 53, Vicksburg 40

Jerrica Thomas scored a team-high 14 points, while Iyvanna Brown and Sondra Moncure each scored 10 to keep Hinds AHS unbeaten at 8-0.

Rachel Jenkins scored 18 points as the Missy Gators fell to 6-3 on the year.