St. Al boys, PCA girls lose in District 3-AAA semifinals

Published 10:07 pm Thursday, February 7, 2019

Three meetings this season between St. Aloysius and Riverfield Academy were decided by a total of 12 points.

St. Aloysius wound up on the wrong side of all three.

Tristan Middleton scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half, including a buzzer-beating jumper from the corner that gave Riverfield a 41-39 victory over the Flashes in the semifinals of the MAIS District 3-AAA boys basketball tournament on Thursday.

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St. Al (14-8) has still advanced to next week’s Class AAA South State tournament, but will not compete for the district championship. It’ll take on Park Place Christian in the consolation game Saturday at 3:15 p.m. at Central Hinds Academy in Raymond.

Riverfield will play Hillcrest Christian in the championship game Saturday at 5:45 p.m.

Peyton Raborn added 10 points for Riverfield, which rallied from a 26-18 halftime deficit to beat St. Al for the third time this season. Alex Allen scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.

Alvin Brown led St. Al with 22 points, including eight in the fourth quarter and 12 in the first, but the Flashes only scored five points in the third quarter to allow Riverfield to wipe out its eight-point deficit.

Trinye Brown added nine points for St. Al, and no one else scored more than four.

(G) Hillcrest 61, Porter’s Chapel 20
The Porter’s Chapel Academy Lady Eagles came crashing back to Earth after their first-round win in the District 3-AAA girls’ tournament.

Jazmyn Ellis hit four 3-pointers and scored 22 of her game-high 33 points in the first half as top-seeded Hillcrest Christian routed PCA (13-14) in the semifinals on Thursday.

Anna Grace White led Porter’s Chapel with nine points, all coming in the first half, and six rebounds. The Lady Eagles were 9-for-49 from the field overall (18.4 percent) and went 0-for-8 from 3-point range.

“They were hitting everything and we were just off tonight,” PCA coach Cookie Johnson said.

Julia Lindsey added 10 points for Hillcrest. The Lady Cougars advanced to play Central Hinds in the championship game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

PCA will play Park Place in the consolation game at 3 p.m. Saturday.

PCA has already advanced to next week’s Class AAA South State tournament by virtue of its win over Riverfield Academy — the program’s first in the postseason since 2006 — on Tuesday.