The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy boys’ basketball team sits at an even 4-4 heading into the Christmas break. There is room for improvement, but they like where they are right now.

NSA has had its fair share of ups and downs during this first quarter of the season. After starting off the season 1-3 the Saints now sit at 4-4. They went on a three-game winning streak, but it was snapped by Churchland High School Tuesday in a 10-point loss.

Against Churchland, the Truckers made a run in the first half, but the Saints were able to fight back and tie the game up at the half. Saints coach Lamont Strothers felt the team played aggressively, but NSA was out-rebounded, which ultimately led to the loss. For the whole game, the Truckers out-rebounded the Saints by 22, with 14 of them being offensive rebounds.

Strothers likes where his team is now. Each game, the Saints are liable to have a different leading scorer, which makes the team versatile. NSA wants to exploit matchups and, if Strothers feels that a player has a matchup they like for that particular game, they stick with that.

Recently the Saints won the holiday tournament they hosted. In beating those two teams, Strothers liked the fact he was able to get more players involved in the game.

“We came out and played hard and played well,” Strothers said. “The kids enjoyed themselves. We were able to work a lot of players in. Overall, it was a good two wins for us.”

In the top half of the new year, conference play is the focal point for most teams. NSA wants to pay attention to detail and improve day by day so they can give themselves a chance to finish strong in the conference.

“We have to be aggressive on the ball,” Strothers said. “Having aggressive switches, maintaining ball pressure and containing the help side will make us better in the long run. These last few days we have really been working hard on that and focusing on our rebounding. In order for us to be successful in the conference, we have to do all the little things right.”

“We want to become more disciplined and increase our team chemistry,” the Saints’ Spencer Salmon said. “That will help us pull out close games at home and on the road.”

NSA will play one more time before the new year. They have a game against Hampton Christian at Boo Williams Sportsplex at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27.