The iron was more than just unkind to St. Aloysius on Friday night. It was a mean, cold-hearted, vindictive snake determined to grant no favors.

The Flashes only made one shot from the field in the first 13 ½ minutes of the second half against Riverfield Academy. The swoon put them into a double-digit hole too deep to climb out of, spoiled an otherwise solid effort, and sent them to a 55-44 defeat at the hands of the Raiders.

“Tonight, we ran that half-court offense as well as we’ve done all year. That defense is just so good that we couldn’t get the shots that we were going to be able to get, so we panicked occasionally and took some shots that we shouldn’t have taken,” St. Al coach Eddie Pickle said. “But, overall, I am very pleased. Even though it’s another district loss, we can beat this team. I’m not going to take it as a victory, but as a moral loss we’ll take it. I like that word.”

Thomas Trichell scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the first half for St. Al (6-8, 1-3 District 3-AAA), while his twin brother James finished with seven points and Braxton Chewning snagged eight rebounds.

Travis Rawls led Riverfield (17-2, 3-1) with 12 points and eight rebounds. Cole Garrett added 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Garrett Brakefield scored 10 points. Peyton Raborn had eight points and 15 rebounds.

Riverfield outrebounded St. Al 41-20.

“They outrebounded us big-time on the offensive boards. They had a kid that was 6-5, and my tallest that I had on the court was 5-9 or 5-10. We fought. We played hard. (Riverfield) is a well-coached team. That defense is as good as we’ll see,” Pickle said.

St. Al trailed by four points late in the third quarter, but its shooting struggles and a slew of turnovers soon caught up to it. Riverfield turned three steals into six quick points and pushed its lead to 42-33 at the end of the period. The margin got as high as 16 points in the fourth quarter before St. Al mounted a late comeback.

The Flashes went on a 10-1 run over a 90-second span and sliced it to 51-44 on a three-point play by Thomas Trichell with 1:03 left in the game.

The momentum of the run soon evaporated, however. St. Al was forced to foul and the Raiders hit four free throws down the stretch to extend the lead. The Flashes’ cold shooting returned at the same time, as they missed their last four shots of the game — three of them from 3-point range.

Pickle said the shooting slump in the second half actually started just before the end of the first. The Flashes were attempting to hold for the final shot but attempted and missed one with enough time for Riverfield to go the other way for a basket that gave it a 27-25 lead at halftime.

Unhappy with the final possession, Pickle said he gave a fiery halftime speech that backfired.

“I chewed them out in the locker room at halftime and that may have been a mistake, because they came out flat and scared to do anything the second half. I’m going to take the blame. I may not have handled the halftime as well as I could have,” Pickle said. “I honestly believe that when I got on them they got down, and I have got to learn that I can’t do that with this bunch. They work a whole lot better when you’re fighting for them instead of fighting with them, and at halftime I was fighting with them.”

(G) Riverfield 63, St. Aloysius 36

Marissa Crockett scored a game-high 19 points, Madison Parker added 11 and Taylor Hixon 10 as Riverfield Academy (9-9, 1-2 District 3-AAA) kept St. Aloysius’ girls’ team winless on the season.

Grace Upshaw scored 12 points for St. Al (0-13, 0-4) and Kyla Goodlow added seven.

Riverfield led 37-23 at halftime, then put the game out of reach with a 12-4 run in the third quarter. After scoring a basket in the opening moments of the third, St. Al didn’t make another shot until Aalah Harris’ shot fell with three minutes to go to make it 49-27.

St. Al will return to action Tuesday, with a home game at 6 p.m. against Central Hinds.