The Suffolk Christian Academy boys’ basketball team started the new year off with a loss on Tuesday, but the Knights played well enough to show they have improved and hope to keep that momentum going in a North Carolina tourney this weekend.

SCA hosted the Beach Breakers on Tuesday, falling 59-43.

“We improved a little bit from the first game that we played them,” Suffolk Christian coach Terry Leiter said. “We still lost, but by a smaller margin.”

The Breakers handed the Knights a 70-45 defeat on Dec. 3.

Leiter said his team has had good quarters against good competition, but it just has not strung four of them together yet.

Beach led 15-10 after one quarter on Tuesday, 29-21 after two quarters, and then it outscored SCA 19-4 in the third period to take a 48-25 lead.

The Breakers managed to score a variety of times in the third on inbounds plays underneath the basket.

Since Beach was scoring at an accelerated clip, it was important for Suffolk Christian to respond offensively, but it did not.

Leiter said his team’s ball movement looked decent, “we just did not make shots.”

“At least we were within striking distance until that happened,” he said of the third period.

Though falling short by 16 in the game, the Knights won the fourth quarter 18-11.

“They’ve got a pretty well-balanced team,” Leiter said of the Breakers after noting they have several different players who can score with efficiency.

Beach junior guard Noah Kessler finished with a game-high 21 points.

“He hit a bunch of threes on us,” Leiter said.

The Knights are well acquainted with Breakers senior forward Steven Effler, who transferred to Beach from Suffolk Christian. He registered 17 points.

“He’s a strong, aggressive, driving player,” Leiter said.

Beach junior center Jacob Mustard had 10 points, and senior guard/forward Jayni Jackson had nine.

Senior guard Michael Cornette led the Knights with 14 points, while senior forward Barton Metzgar added eight, junior center/forward Joel Blasiole had six and junior forward/guard Harrison Judy had five.

Knights junior point guard Joel Pope, who averages a team-high 12.3 points per game, was held to two, production possibly affected by a health issue.

“I don’t know if he had the flu, but he definitely didn’t seem like he was feeling like his normal self,” Leiter said.

To close out 2015, Suffolk Christian went 1-2 in the Peninsula Catholic High School Holiday Classic.

“We struggled a little bit more than I expected to,” Leiter said. “We’re taking some lumps early in the season, but I think we still have a lot of the season in front of us, and I expect us to play a lot stronger.”

The Knights lost 77-55 to Peninsula Catholic on Dec. 28, then fell 74-51 against Summit Christian Academy the next day.

“They both like to press a little bit,” Leiter said, which translated to points in transition off of steals.

“I think the nice thing about playing Summit in the tournament was it gave us a chance to get a look at them before we play them in our conference,” the coach said.

Suffolk Christian will face the Eagles twice more this season.

The Knights closed out their play in the Classic on Dec. 30 with a 70-37 victory over Denbigh Baptist Christian School.

“We built a little confidence coming off of that,” Leiter said.

Last season, SCA played in a tournament near the beginning of 2015, which served as a turning point for the Knights, and Leiter hopes the same will be true this year.

Suffolk Christian (5-8, 3-4) begins play in an Elizabeth City, N.C.-based tourney on Friday at 5 p.m.