You can walk through it in practice.

You can talk about it.

But there's just one way to truly experience the kind of pressure defense that is the hallmark of national-caliber teams such as St. Patrick's of Elizabeth.

And that's to face it on the court.

"This is what we wanted," St. Augustine coach Paul Rodio said after his team got the full treatment of St. Patrick's full-court defense yesterday.

St. Patrick's forced 24 turnovers and beat St. Augustine, 58-38, in a North vs. South battle of New Jersey boys' basketball teams.

Senior forward Paris Bennett, who has signed with George Mason, scored 21 for St. Patrick's (9-2), the No. 4 team in the country according to the USA Today rankings.

Michael Gilchrist, a sophomore forward from Somerdale, scored six for St. Patrick's. Gilchrist also had four rebounds and two blocks but battled foul trouble.

North Carolina-bound senior guard Dexter Strickland scored eight for St. Patrick's.

Senior forward Bill Giberson scored 11 for St. Augustine (6-1), the No. 1 team in South Jersey in The Inquirer Top 10.

"That's the most pressure we'll see up until the playoffs," Giberson said. "We're more prepared than ever."

Rodio said he scheduled the game to expose his team to some of the best competition in the country. St. Patrick's was coming off a dramatic victory Saturday afternoon over Trenton Catholic, the No. 3 team in New Jersey, according to the Newark Star-Ledger rankings.

The Celtics showed little fatigue after a long bus ride to Atlantic County, building a 19-9 lead after the first quarter.

But St. Augustine settled down in the second quarter as Giberson scored seven of his points to help the Hermits close to within 32-23 at halftime. "I thought we were an offensive rebound or two away from being down four or five at halftime," Rodio said. "But they picked up their defense. They play us like they play the No. 1 team in the country. There's no level with them. They play everybody like that."

St. Patrick's coach Kevin Boyle said the key was the defense played by his starting guards, senior Dean Kowalski and junior Kevin Boyle, the coach's son, on St. Augustine sophomore guard Isaiah Morton. "He really didn't get any good looks and that made it difficult for them," Boyle said of Morton, who scored nine on three three-point jumpers.

St. Patrick's surged to a 47-29 lead as Bennett scored six and Strickland four in the third quarter. The Celtics generated nine turnovers in the period and St. Augustine's only points came on two three-point jumpers by 6-foot-8 senior Herberto Guanipa.

"You try to show what that defense is going to be like but it's tough to do," Rodio said. "They have too many athletes. We run a high-post flash and we get that against 90 percent of the teams we play, but they took it away."

He added, "Hopefully, we learn from this and it makes us better."

St. Patrick's 19 13 15 11 - 58

St. Augustine's 9 14 6 9 - 38

SP: Dexter Strickland 8, Paris Bennett 21, Kevin Boyle 7, Michael Gilchrist 6, Derrick Gordon 6, Josh Daniels 2, Chas Plummer 6, Rich Dobin 2.

SA: Isaiah Morton 9, Bill Giberson 11, Junior Chapman 2, Darnell Laws 1, Herberto Guanipa 9, Charlie Monaghan 4, Matt Norman 2.