NORFOLK — Nansemond-Suffolk’s boys basketball team has had clear signs of progress in its first season under new head coach Clint Wright.

The last couple games haven’t been among them. The Saints lost by more than 40 against Christchurch on a trip up to Saluda Saturday night.

NSA (5-12, 0-2) fell behind 12-0 in the first three minutes of action at Norfolk Academy Tuesday night and the host Bulldogs cruised on to a 62-34 Tidewater Conference victory.

“For one, we haven’t started out games very well the last few times out,” Wright said.

“Our guys have to learn there’s not a switch they can just turn on and off. It has to start at the tap. We have to start games playing like it’s the fourth quarter,” he said.

The Bulldogs led 7-0 in the first 1:04 to force a Saint timeout. NA’s trapping defense took a big toll on NSA’s offense and turned steals and fumbles into easy points in a hurry. Norfolk Academy kept going to a 12-0 margin by the time NSA scored just over three minutes into the game.

Breon Willie’s long-range shooting got the Saints out of the blocks. Willie scored five points and NSA pulled within 13-8 before the Bulldogs scored the last four points of the quarter.

With two more NSA turnovers on its first two possessions of the second period, two more NA lay-ups made it 21-8 0:40 into the second period.

The Bulldogs made 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) from the field and won the rebounding battle by an 18-6 margin in the first half to take a 31-13 lead.

The Saints put together a couple brief spurts in the second half but it was not nearly enough to trouble the home team.

Harrison Spalding’s drive along the baseline for a lay-up and Zach Taves made a bucket in the post to cut what was a 21-point Bulldog lead down to 15. A three-minute long scoring drought for the Saints followed though.

Norfolk Academy had no problem ticking the scoreboard over. The Bulldogs finished shooting 20-for-36 (55.5 percent) from the field, 6-for-12 (50.0 percent) from three-point range and 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) from the foul line.

Willie led the Saints with 13 points. Point guard Chris Sharrett finished with five points, three steals and two assists.

The task in the Tidewater Conference seemingly gets tougher for the Saints Thursday evening with a visit by Cape Henry (13-4).