From the seven turnovers they committed in the first quarter to the three in the final 30 seconds, the St. Aloysius Flashes seemed determined to throw the ball away at every opportunity Monday night.

At least, until it came time to shoot.

The Flashes shot 74.3 percent from the field – a figure that could have been even better if not for several missed layups in the fourth quarter – to offset a 30-turnover night and beat Pisgah 70-61 in a Class 1A South State satellite game.

The win sends the Flashes (21-8) to the South State tournament at Stringer where they’ll play Mount Olive at 8:30 Thursday night. The team needs to win Thursday, then again either Friday or Saturday to earn a trip to the state tournament in Jackson. The top three from two eight-team brackets make it to Jackson.

&#8220It’s great. We’ve been working hard, but we’ve got a lot of things to work on in practice tomorrow,” said St. Al guard Marsh Willis, who scored 12 points against Pisgah and was one of four Flashes to score in double figures. &#8220It’s a lot closer than it should have been. You have 30 turnovers, you don’t deserve to win a playoff game.”

John Robert Burnett led St. Al with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Chase Smith had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Chris Johnson scored 10 points. St. Al outrebounded Pisgah 32-17, but the turnovers kept it close.

The Dragons had 18 steals in the game – including 10 by Albert Morgan, who also scored 21 points – and hit five 3-pointers in the first half. Pisgah’s shooting gradually fell off, though. After going 8-for-12 from the field in the first quarter, it was just 5-for-26 in the next two periods.

&#8220We had forced a lot of turnovers, but didn’t score. We had defensive stops, but if you don’t score you don’t win,” Pisgah coach Angela Reynolds said.

The only problem for the Flashes was the turnovers equated to wasted possessions, and they weren’t scoring either.

St. Al only scored nine points in the third quarter and didn’t have a big run until a 7-0 spurt early in the fourth gave it its biggest lead of the game, 52-42 with just over six minutes to play.

St. Al was able to keep the lead between five and 10 points the rest of the way, although Pisgah did make one last charge in the final minute. Morgan hit a 3-pointer, then came up with a steal and hit one of two free throws to cut a 10-point deficit to six, 67-61, with 15 seconds to play.

Pisgah’s Jeremy Smith then got another steal but missed a 10-foot jumper. Burnett got the rebound for St. Al and was intentionally fouled by Donnatello Luckett with four seconds left. Burnett hit one of two free throws to make it 68-61, and Hardy Farris added a layup at the buzzer for the final margin.

In all, St. Al had three turnovers in the final 30 seconds but was able to avoid disaster.

&#8220As far as from an execution standpoint, it wasn’t one of our better games,” St. Al coach Penn Majors said. &#8220We got excellent shots on the possessions when we kept from throwing the ball away.”