The mantra of “intensity is our competitive advantage” has been a consistent thread inside the Lockport basketball program this season.

And that mantra was put into full practice on Friday night as an inspired first half effort set the stage for a comfortable 58-30 victory over Joliet West in the title game of the Lockport Class 4A Regional.

Lockport advances to the Joliet West Class 4A Sectional, in which it will face Marist on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Marist defeated Rich Township 82-54 in the Rich Township Regional.

The two teams traded punches early and Joliet West started the game by making two 3-pointers and led 8-4.

But that would truly be the only fleeting moments of success which Joliet West would have as Lockport completely put down the clamps on defense and began scoring seemingly at will.

The Porters (27-5) scored the final nine points of the first quarter and then ripped off the first 13 points of the second quarter.

Joliet West was held without a field goal for the final 11 minutes of the first half, scoring just a solitary point, a Ryan Lipke free throw with 1:53 to play in the half, in the entire second quarter.

When the dust cleared, a 27-1 scoring run had given Lockport a 31-9 lead at the half.

“Before the game started coach said intensity is our competitive advantage,” Lockport’s Nojus Venckus said. “And straight from the jump of the ball we knew that we’ve got to be more intense, more competitive and more aggressive than them.”

The Porters didn’t have much problem following through on that mission.

After allowing the two early 3-pointers, that intensity came to full fruition on the defensive end for Lockport. Its zone defense extended high in the backcourt forcing Joliet West (21-11) into labored possessions and at times took well over 30 seconds for the Tigers to even get a clean look.

And when those clean looks very infrequently came, Joliet West wasn’t able to knock them down. After the two early makes from Brockton Goehrke and Josh Calvert, Joliet West made just one of their last 16 shots in the first half.

“I was groomed as a man-to-man guy, and I still love to man-to-man, but part of my responsibility is to use the pieces that I have,” Lockport coach Dave Wilson said. “So we have pieces that are really good in the zone. And when you can pick up your opponent’s tendencies, and then we drill those tendencies so that we can be at those spots before they are.”

Lockport got to those spots all night and the Tigers never found their rhythm falling behind by nearly 30 points after three quarters.

The Porters, on the other hand, were having no such trouble finding their offensive vibe. Lockport was relentless in attacking the basket and nearly everyone was getting involved. Nedas Venckas led the Porters with 15, Nojus Venckus added 14 and Trace Schaaf chipped in 12 for a Lockport team that put team goals in front of individual ones all game long.

“I think we just wanted it more,” Lockport’s Nedas Venckus said. “We came out more ready and we were willing to die on the court.”

Those extremes weren’t necessary for the Porters but the all-around effort wasn’t lost on Wilson, whose program captured its first regional title since 2011 with the win.

“I was reminded a few times of the drought,” Wilson said. “And this has been a goal of ours as a program. And we were able to stack days and then months and then years and I knew we had a special squad because of their motor.”

Joliet West’s strong second half of the season came to an abrupt halt as they didn’t score in double digits until the fourth quarter. No Tigers scored in double figures as Calvert led them with eight points.

“We wanted a great game. But respectfully, that’s why you can’t expect things, you’ve got to go earn them,” Joliet West coach Jeremy Kreiger said. “It’s a credit to Coach Wilson and what they’ve done and what he’s built in a short time here.

“They played well all year and they earned the right to cut down their nets down on their home court.”