The La Salle-Peru boys basketball team trailed by a point with 2:06 left in the first quarter Tuesday.

Then the Cavaliers shifted the momentum.

The Cavs scored the final five points of the first quarter and the first eight points of the second to turn the one-point deficit into a 12-point lead.

L-P rode the momentum the rest of the way as the Cavs pulled away for a 65-41 victory over Sterling in a nonconference game at Sellett Gymnasium in La Salle.

“The first couple minutes, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but then we came out and played really good defense and went through our offense,” L-P coach John Senica said. “I was impressed with how the boys played tonight.”

With L-P down 11-10, Jameson Hill drove for a basket to give the Cavs the lead for good at 12-11 before Marion Persich split a pair of free throws and then scored off a turnover with 6.7 seconds left for a 15-11 lead after the first quarter.

To start the second, Gavin Stokes sank a long jump shot, then drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Hill. Persich capped the 13-0 run with a 3 off a pass from John Sowers that gave L-P a 23-11 lead.

“We picked up the defense,” Senica said. “We were sagging off and weren’t closing out on 3s. They moved the ball very well, so we had to really focus and start to play defense. That’s what we finally did. We started to bring the intensity. That’s what always sparks our offense. Then we started to hit some big shots.”

The Cavs scored on eight of their first nine possessions of the second quarter and pushed their lead to 37-18 at halftime.

“They made a run and just punched us in the mouth,” Sterling coach Ryan Vasquez said. “We never recovered from that. We had a couple empty possessions. We got some great looks, but we just didn’t make shots. Unfortunately, they made more shots than we did. We weren’t getting stops on the defensive end.”

L-P led 52-32 after three quarters and led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Persich led the way for the Cavs with 23 points, continuing a strong scoring streak for the sophomore. He scored a career-high 39 points in the third-place game of the Plano Christmas Classic and is averaging 24.4 points per game over L-P’s last five games.

“Marion is a ton,” Senica said. “He was really good his freshman year, but you can really see the difference in him from last year to this year. He’s playing phenomenally.”

Stokes and Erick Sotelo each scored 13 points for L-P.

“We’re moving the ball well in our offense, and we’re not being selfish,” Senica said. “We’re playing good team basketball, and that’s why everybody’s getting their open looks and hitting shots.”

The Cavs (10-3) play rival Ottawa (7-5) at 7 p.m. Friday at L-P. The Cavs beat the Pirates 63-28 in a Plano Christmas Classic quarterfinal.

“To play a team twice and then three times, it’s not very easy,” Senica said. “They didn’t have their big guy (Owen Sanders) last time, so we’re going to have to make sure we take care of business there and make sure we’re playing good defense and know where he’s at on the floor. We have to do the same thing we did tonight. We have to make sure we close out on 3s. We can’t give them open 3 looks. We have to play good defense.”

Xavian Prather scored 13 points, and De Andre Maas added 10 for the Golden Warriors (4-11), who play Alleman on Friday at home.

“It’s over and done with. It’s next game mentality,” Vasquez said about bouncing back from Tuesday’s loss. “It’s back to work (Wednesday). We have a great bunch of kids in the locker room. There’s a lot of faith there. There’s a lot of youth there. We know what needs to get done. We just have to get sharper in some areas.”