Montesano got out to a big halftime lead then held off a late La Center charge to earn a 70-61 victory in a 1A District 4 elimination game on Wednesday at Rochester High School.

The Bulldogs (17-6 overall) played arguably their best 16 minutes of basketball this season en route to a huge 43-20 lead at halftime, paced by red-hot junior forwad Tyce Peterson, who went 4 for 5 from the 3-point line and scored 20 points in the first half.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano senior forward Tyce Peterson scored a game-high 32 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 70-61 victory over La Center in a 1A District 4 Tournament elimination game on Wednesday at Rochester High School.

“I just thought we were playing our brand of basketball,” Peterson said of the Bulldogs’ start. “Coach (Leonard) Barnes said at halftime that was our best half of basketball. I 100% agree. We trusted everyone and came out hot.”

Monte quickly got out to a double-digit lead when junior guard Delon Chan hit a pair of free throws to put the Bulldogs up 16-6 with 2:39 left in the first quarter.

Montesano would double that lead when Peterson hit a corner three off an inside-out assist from senior post Cam Taylor for a 32-12 advantage halfway through the second quarter.

“We were just moving the ball and were up in transition,” Chan said of the first-half success.

“We know what (La Center) likes to do, and we just took it away,” Barnes said. “In the second half, we just tried to manage the game down to the end. But that first half, I thought we played some really good basketball.”

Monte would hold a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and took a 54-38 advantage into the final period after Peterson scored on a drive and layup at the buzzer.

The Wildcats (11-13) chipped away at the Bulldogs’ lead as turnovers and foul troubles began to take a bit of a toll on Montesano.

La Center would crack Monte’s double-digit stranglehold when junior guard Jayce Grotte scored on a pivot move in the post with 3:17 to play, but Monte immediately responded on the next possession when senior guard Jaxson Wilson grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to Peterson, who buried a three in the corner for a 63-51 lead.

Monte led 65-55 on a pair of Chan free throws with just over a minute left, but two Grotte threes gave La Center a chance down 65-61 with 38.4 second to play.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Delon Chan (21) is fouled by La Center’s Austin Nixon (12) during the Bulldogs’ 70-61 victory in a 1A District 4 Tournament game on Wednesday at Rochester High School.

With La Center fouling the rest of the way, Peterson made 1-of-2 free throws followed by Chan burying four straight from the charity stripe in the final 20 seconds to secure the victory.

“I just knew I had to hit it,” Chan said of his clutch free-throw shooting in the game’s waning moments. “I was nervous, but I tried to calm myself down and I just happened to knock them down.”

Monte went 26 of 61 from the field (43%) in the game, including a blistering 16-of-31 shooting in the first half (52%).

The Bulldogs were led by Peterson, who scored a game-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting (67%). Peterson hit 6-of-8 3-point shots and had six rebounds in the game.

Chan went a perfect 8 for 8 from the free-throw line to score 15 points and also pull down four boards, all in the fourth quarter.

Monte’s Gabe Bodwell was one of four Bulldogs starters to pick up two fouls in the first half, but the senior post had eight points and led the Bulldogs with 10 rebounds and four blocks before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

“We had people coming off the bench and they gave us great minutes,” Barnes said. “They let us keep that lead in the first half, which was really critical.”

The Bulldogs had 44 rebounds and 15 assists while committing 20 turnovers as a team, 13 of those giveaways coming in the second half.

“La Center made some great defensive adjustments in the second half,” Peterson said. “They really locked us up, but we trusted each other and came out with the victory.”

“In the second half, the turnovers were just too much,” Chan said. “We maybe thought we had it in the bag and we weren’t dialed in. … Our energy went down and the turnovers continued. We’re going to watch over the film and see what we did. We can’t let that happen against Elma.”

With the win, Montesano advances to the district third/fourth-place game where it will face East County rival Elma in a rubber match set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Hoquiam High School.

The winner advances to the state tournament. The loser’s season comes to an end.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano guard Peyton Damasiewicz, right, looks to pass against La Center’s Jacye Grotte during the Bulldogs’ 70-61 victory in a 1A District 4 Tournament elimination game on Wednesday at Rochester High School.

La Center 8 12 18 23 – 61

Montesano 24 19 11 16 – 70

Scoring: La Center – Nixon 25, Grotte 12, Rainey 11, Larkin 7, McKinney 6. Montesano – Peterson 32, Chan 15, Bodwell 8, Gunter 6, Cobb 6, Taylor 4, Damasiewicz 2.