Knights ready for region play after holiday tournament

Sacred Heart of Jesus played three games in as many days at the Hub City Classic last week and nearly came away with the championship.

They fell short to champion Crockett County, 65-60, but head coach Nick Beauregard walked away knowing what his team needs to do better.

“The effort was there, and so was the execution,” Beauregard said. “But I think we lost our legs toward the end after playing three straight days.

“That’s something we’ll work on and be ready for when we get to the region tournament.”

The Knights play in Division II-A West with other local private schools Jackson Christian, Trinity Christian and University School of Jackson.

Beauregard said the experience of playing against teams like North Side and Crockett County in the tournament tested his team in ways the Knights need to be tested before seeing those region rivals in Madison County and in the Memphis suburbs in January.

“Both North Side and Crockett County play fast and matched up well with our size and speed and challenged us,” Beauregard said. “We just didn’t finish well against Crockett.”

Comparing the loss to Crockett to the win over North Side the night before, Beauregard said the obvious difference between the two games was the positive start the Knights had in the first game. They jumped out to a 23-8 lead early in the second quarter and led 31-16 at halftime before winning 50-39.

“We started out great, hitting our shots and the open passing lanes and getting up and down the court,” Beauregard said. “And that gave us what we needed early on to stay on top and get the win.”

Moving forward, the Knights return to play on Friday with a home game against Trinity Christian – Sacred Heart’s first region game.

“We’ve got good teams in our region, and we’ll need to be ready to play every game,” Beauregard said. “So we’ve got a few days to get ready for them.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news