After a fashion, Hoquiam’s long-awaited boys basketball homecoming proved happy after all.

Matt Brown powered a Grizzly comeback from a 16-point deficit to produce a 63-55 victory over Castle Rock in a non-league contest Tuesday night at Hoquiam Square Garden.

The Grizzlies, who spent much of early December on the road against upper-classification foes, notched their first win in five starts this season.

A tower of strength in the paint, the brawny 6-foot-2 Brown led all scorers with 25 points. He almost singlehandedly kept Hoquiam in the game during an otherwise lackluster first half, then tallied 14 points in the final two quarters.

Playing much of the second half with four fouls, junior wing Payton Quintanilla finished with 12 points. Senior forward Victor James, Hoquiam’s leading scorer this season, scored all 10 of his points in the second half.

As several Hoquiam coaches and administrators noted afterward, this was a contest of two distinctly different halves.

Alternating between man-to-man and zone defenses, the Grizzlies seemed powerless to prevent Castle Rock from taking the ball to the hoop in the first half. The Rockets led by as many as 16 late in the second quarter before settling for a 37-23 halftime lead.

“We had issues identifying who we were guarding at first and we had issues getting back on defense,” HHS coach Curtis Eccles explained. “We flat-out didn’t work as hard as they did in the first half — and they heard about it at halftime.”

The Grizzlies ratcheted up the pressure on their man-to-man in the second half and clogged the passing lanes to force numerous turnovers. They also did a better job working the ball inside following intermission.

“Our goal was to get it inside to Matt,” Eccles said. “We weren’t as selfish as we were in the first half.”

James’ 3-point basket at the 4:28 mark of the fourth quarter gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the night at 49-48. Following a free throw by Castle Rock’s Jonny Boissonault, James connected again from the right elbow to put Hoquiam in front to stay with 3:52 remaining.

Grizzly guard Jackson Folkers ran down a wild inbound pass and fed Brown for a layin with 38 seconds left to put it out of reach at 59-53.

Rayyon Dayton had 10 rebounds and four assists for Hoquiam. James and Folkers contributed six and five steals, respectively.

Senior forward Bryce Desarmo led Castle Rock with 18 points. Boissonault added 15 points for the Rockets.

The Grizzlies take on rival Aberdeen for the first time this season on Friday at Sam Benn Gym.

Castle Rock 22 15 8 10 — 55

Hoquiam 14 9 17 23 — 63

Castle Rock (55) — Edwards 3, Desarmo 18, King 9, Patching 7, Boissonault 15, Perdue 2, Smith 1, Gaze. FG — 22-56 (.393). FT — 6-16.

Hoquiam (63) — Dayton 2, Eccles 2, Folkers 7, James 10, Brown 25, Quintanilla 12, Smith 2, Morales, Varner, Larsen 3. FG — 25-64 (.391). FT — 10-17.

JV — Hoquiam 70, Castle Rock 26. Zach Elsos 15 points for Hoquiam.