The La Salle-Peru boys basketball team was back to full strength for its postseason opener Wednesday with starters Marion Persich and Jameson Hill in the lineup after missing multiple games due to injuries.

With their regular lineup back on the court, the No. 2-seeded Cavaliers got off to a hot start with a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

No. 7 Dixon got back into the game, pulling within four points late in the first half and hanging around until midway through the fourth quarter before the Cavs extended their lead in the final minutes for a 62-53 victory in a Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional semifinal.

“We got Marion and Jameson back,” L-P senior Erick Sotelo said. “They had to wipe off the rust. They haven’t played in a couple games. At first, we came out strong. Dixon got back in it, but we made some good defensive plays and that eventually brought us the win.”

The Cavs (19-10) advance to play No. 3 Ottawa (15-12) in the regional championship at 7 p.m. Friday.

“Any time we play, no matter how good we are or they are, it’s never going to be an easy win,” Sotelo said. “But we’re feeling good. Having played Ottawa three times, we’re feeling confident. But you never know in the postseason.”

L-P has beaten the Pirates three times this season. The Cavs beat Ottawa 63-28 on Dec. 27 in the Plano Christmas Classic, 45-37 on Jan. 9 at L-P and 55-37 on Feb. 6 in Ottawa.

“It’s going to be a really tough game,” L-P coach John Senica said. “It’s going to be a dogfight. We’ve played Ottawa three times now. The more you play a team, the more difficult it gets because you know each other so well.”

The Cavaliers will look to win their third regional title in a row and their second consecutive on their home floor.

“It means a lot (to play the final at home),” Senica said. “It means a lot to these kids. I just hope we can follow through and take care of it.”

L-P took the lead on its first possession when Gavin Stokes drove for a bucket. With the Cavs up 6-4, John Sowers drained three 3-pointers - two on assists from Sotelo - to give L-P a 15-4 lead. The Cavs led 20-9 after the first quarter.

“They have a really good player in No. 11 (Brody Nicklaus), and our focus in practice was to face guard and deny him the ball,” Sotelo said. “I feel like we did that really well in the first couple minutes. Our guys were really good on help side. I think that brought us out to the lead.

“(Offensively), we just moved the bal. We got the ball inside, that makes the defense collapse and then we just kick it to our shooters.”

L-P led 28-14 on a steal and fast-break basket by Braylin Bond with 3:45 left in the second quarter before the Dukes began to rally.

Dixon went on a 10-0 run, capped by back-to-back transition layups by Xavion Jones, to close within 28-24 with 14.8 seconds left in the first half. A putback at the buzzer by Sotelo gave L-P a 30-24 halftime lead.

“Defensively, I thought we locked in,” Dixon coach Chris Harmann said. “They missed a couple shots. I thought with our mentality, we kept continuing to fight through it.”

The Dukes kept it within single digits for most of the second half and trailed 40-36 going to the fourth but never got closer than four points.

“There could have been a lot of times where the game got away, but we kept it close,” Harmann said. “We just couldn’t seem to get the rebound when we needed it to give ourselves a chance to get over the hump.”

Persich drove the lane for a basket and was fouled, making the free throw after a lane violation gave him a second chance, to put L-P ahead 57-45 with 1:58 left.

The Cavs led by at least eight the rest of the way.

“I told the guys that we need to rebound, we need to be smarter,” Senica said. “We were turning the ball over. We were being lackadaisical. I told them we needed to focus, rebound and take care of the ball.”

Sotelo and Persich had 15 points each for L-P, while Sowers and Stokes each contributed nine.

Jones scored a game-high 16 points, Brody Nicklaus had 11 and Armahn McGowan added 10 for the Dukes, who finished 11-18.

“It was a really good season,” Harmann said. “We talked about our youth a lot. We had a lot of guys progress. Thanks to our couple of seniors who stuck it out because them showing our younger guys what’s needed hopefully translates to the future.”

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L-P's Marion Persich shoots a jump shot over Dixon's Xavion Jones during the Class 3A Regional semifinal game on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026 in Sellett Gymnasium at L-P High School. (Scott Anderson)