It was a good early season test for both the La Salle-Peru and Hall boys basketball teams Tuesday.

In the second half, the Cavaliers used their size and length to turn up the defensive pressure as they came away with a 57-34 victory over the Red Devils in a nonconference game in La Salle.

The Cavs and Marion Persich came out strong to start the game. Persich scored a pair of buckets and dished an assist to Jameson Hill off a rebound to give L-P a 6-0 lead.

Hall got on the scoreboard as Chace Sterling got an offensive board and dished to Braden Curran for a layup.

But Persich came right back down the floor with a 3-pointer that put the Cavs ahead 9-2. Trailing 11-2, Curran drained a much needed shot from behind the arc for Hall to close the gap to 11-5.

Despite the Cavs dominating the boards, the Red Devils were able to keep the game close as a Sterling drive and layup cut the Cavs lead to 13-10. L-P led 15-10 at the end of the quarter.

“I got to give Hall credit,” LP coach John Senica said. “They are a very good 3-point shooting team and they kept it close. I don’t know if we were lackadaisical or what in that first half, but Hall can shoot and it’s a good thing that we were rebounding well and able to keep that lead.”

L-P started the second quarter off strong as Erick Sotelo made a nice move in the paint for two points and John Sowers followed with a steal and layup that pushed the lead to 22-10, capping off a 9-0 run.

After a Red Devils timeout, Sterling had a drive and fingertip roll to end the drought and a minute later, Jacob Andracke hit a 3-pointer that got Hall back within six at 24-18.

But a 3-pointer from the top of the key from freshman Gavin Stokes gave L-P a 27-18 lead going into the half.

The Cavs started to turn up the pressure in the third quarter with Hill slamming home back-to-back dunks off steals that pushed the lead to 31-18.

Hall ended a 7-0 L-P run with a hook shot from Curran, but the Cavs immediately responded with a drive and bunny shot in the lane and then hit a jump shot as they began to pull away with a 41-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“I thought the size started to wear down Hall a bit in the second half,” Senica said. “Hill lit a fire under us in the third with those back-to-back dunks. We challenged the guys at half to be more aggressive on defense and they did just that.”

Hall’s Greyson Bickett hit a 3-pointer to start the final eight minutes, but the Cavs responded their next trip down with a 3-pointer from Hill, who then converted a layup off a great pass from Persich as the Cavs rolled to the 57-34 victory.

“I am not disappointed with the effort or the loss at all,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “After all, L-P is a big 3A team and their smallest guy starting is 6’3” and we aren’t big. What I am disappointed about is I think we let our emotions get the best of us in the second half. We have to be better at that. Games like this against big schools will only help us come March and if the guys realize that we will be just fine.”

Persich led all scorers with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Hill added 15 points. Hall was led by Sterling with eight points while Bickett and Curran added seven each.