St. Aloysius had every ingredient for a great home opener on Tuesday night. A newly refinished court and a loud student cheering section awaited Wesson.

Only one element eluded the Flashes — a win.

The boys fell 78-58, while the girls lost 69-39.

With the football team just having turned in equipment, St. Al coach Gary Miller was short two of his starters and it showed on the court.

Yet the coach could not fault the effort of his undermanned squad, especially against a quality Class 2A opponent in Wesson, which beat the Flashes 63-55 in last year’s meeting.

“We played hard and we never gave up,” Miller said. “When we get some kids back from football, we’ll get better. We played hard from buzzer to buzzer.”

Post player Alex Lanier led the Flashes with a hard-earned 27 points, most of which came on putbacks and from the free-throw line. Sean Johnson contributed 12 points

St. Al (0-2) took the first lead of the contest at 2-0 off a layup by Matthew Foley, but the closest the Flashes could manage from that point was three.

Most of that was due to the efforts of Wesson guard Josh Hood, who nailed seven 3-pointers in the first half alone. Most of them came in the second quarter, when the Cobras (3-1) outscored the Flashes 23-6 to take a commanding 41-16 lead in the locker room.

Hood ended his half by drilling a 3-pointer at the buzzer to quiet the student section and cap a 15-0 run to close the first half. Hood finished the contest with 27 points, while Cody King added 14.

“They made a lot of shots from the perimeter,” Miller said. “We tried to slow him down, but they’re a balanced team.”

In the second half, the Cobras worked the glass and knocked down some more perimeter shots to maintain their advantage. St. Al got no closer than 24 the rest of the way, despite outscoring Wesson 42-37 in the second half.

The Flashes will host Loyd Star on Friday, with the girls game starting at 6 p.m. and the boys following at 7:30 p.m.

(G) Wesson 69, St. Al 39

A slow start proved to be the undoing for St. Aloysius. The Lady Cobras jumped out of the gate with a 19-3 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Carlye Smith had 14 points to pace the Lady Flashes (0-2) while Tori Hines added 12. Ann Shelby Davis led Wesson (3-1) with 15.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com