ATHENS – Returning to a comfortable setting in the Fazi-Richard Athletic Center Thursday evening, the St. Bernard Saints kept their record on the home floor undefeated by turning back Athens Bible School 55-41.
This was the first time the Saints had played on campus since the St. Bernard Christmas Tournament December 19 in which they defeated Vinemont and Sumiton Christian in one day.
St. Bernard earned its eighth win at home this season, 14th overall and sent the winning streak to 10 games. That is the longest of any local basketball team so far in 2015-16.
As the second half got started, the Saints seemed to be in control. They turned a 27-13 halftime cushion into a 35-14 spread as Dean Smith scored twice from long range and Christian Peterson took the ball over half the length of the floor and laid it in for two points and the largest advantage of the contest.
All of a sudden, Athens Bible woke up and made a game of it. The Trojans finished with eight FGs in the third period, four from 3-point range and cut the 21-point deficit down to a field goal at 38-35 with time running out in the third.
St. Bernard got a huge three from Evan Aldridge before the time finished and the Saints took some momentum into the fourth period with a 41-35 edge.
The final 8:00 saw Greg Boatright’s Saints get seven points by Peterson, five from Gavin Harris and a field goal by Dean Smith to outscore the Trojans 14-6 and move to 14-1 on the season.
Peterson led a very balanced St. Bernard attack with 19, Smith had 17 in his first home game of 2016 with Aldridge 10 and nine by Harris.
The backcourt of Peterson, a sophomore, and Smith, a senior, accounted for 12 field goals, six from long range and six free throws in 10 attempts.
The Saints will have to recover in a hurry for they get on the bus Friday night at travel to Marion County to face the Brilliant Tigers in a regular season affair.
GIRLS
St. Bernard 28, Athens Bible 20
Two consecutive losses were broken by the Lady Saints as they managed to shoot better from the floor in the second half than in the first 16 minutes of play.
St. Bernard managed three FGs at halftime and clung to a 7-3 lead on Athens Bible. The Lady Saints kept the Lady Trojans from scoring from the field, but they made it close with some points from the foul line.
Balanced offense was shown by the Lady Saints during the third with Zana Wilson scoring from the line and two field goals by Jaden Edge plus one from Avy Whaley sent them to a 17-14 advantage at the end of the period.
The production in points during the fourth was from the line with seven made, led by Wilson and Anna Meyers three each. That was enough to create a slight gap on the scoreboard and win by the final margin of eight points.
Wilson led the Lady Saints to their seventh victory with 12, Edge tallied seven, Alli Messick had four, three for Meyers and two by Whaley.
