Escambia County Middle School’s 17-game win streak came to an abrupt halt Monday night when they traveled to Mobile to take on St. Paul’s.

The Eagles (1-1) who were without their starting center Malik McMillian were defeated 35-27 by the Saints.

St. Paul’s led the contest from beginning to end as they outscored the Eagles in three quarters.

Eagles head coach Robert Smith said two important areas of the game hurt his team.

“We had trouble hitting our free throws all night, which really killed us,” Smith said. “We also made too many turnovers that we could not bounce back from.”

In the first quarter, the Eagles’ offense was almost completely shut down as the Saint’s outscored them 9-5.

The Saint’s continued their run in the second period outscoring ECMS 10-7 and taking a 19-12 lead into the locker room at halftime.

After halftime, the Eagles found some spark as they fought back and cut into St. Paul’s lead scoring 11 points and holding the home team to eight.

Their success was shortlived though as the Saint’s beat them in the fourth 7-4 and picked up a win 35-27.

Eagle David Johnson led all ECMS scorers with 12 points in the loss. Johnson also had six rebounds, four steals, two blocks and one assist.

Jerome Webster, Gordon Brooks and Dexter Williams all scored four points. Webster had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Williams recorded seven rebounds and one block, while Brooks had five steals, four assists and one rebound.

ECMS guard Josh Hill recorded three points, two rebounds and one steal.