Trinity Lutheran’s boys basketball team outscored Shawe Memorial 18-10 in the second period to break open a close game and roll to a 74-45 win Friday night in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

The Hilltoppers, behind 6-for-6 shooting by 6-3 post player Ethan Stuart, trailed the Cougars 17-16 at the end of the first period.

Cougars Coach Brian Stuckwisch put Riley Bartells into the game in the second period to guard Stuart, and that was a key in the Cougars pulling away.

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“We did some different things,” Stuckwisch said. “Riley came in and did an excellent job on him. He played behind him. Everybody else was a little bit smaller than Riley, and we played in front of him. Riley came in and really did a good job on defense, and he made some baskets on offense, too. He was a big help tonight.”

Bartells finished with seven points and three rebounds.

All five Trinity starters scored at least one basket in the opening period with Mitchell Hackman leading the way with two baskets and a free throw, and Tyler Goecker hit a 3-pointer in the period.

Trinity held a 13-6 lead before Stuart helped Shawe close the gap.

Stuart missed his first shot of the second period and missed two free throws.

Meanwhile, A.J. Goecker got hot at the other end of the floor and hit a 3-pointer to put Trinity up 21-16, and he scored nine points in the period to help Trinity to a 35-26 lead at the half.

“The first half, we were worried about the 3-point shot,” Stuckwisch said. “We wanted a hand in their face, and when they got their inside game going, we wanted someone to double down on that, and that helped a lot.”

Trinity got off to a strong start in the third period, as Jack Marskberry hit a 3-pointer at the 6:20 mark to boost the lead to 40-28, and Aden Jones hit two baskets in the period to help the home team extend its lead to 51-33 after the third period.

A 3-pointer by Hackman increased Trinity’s lead to 64-39 with six minutes left in the game.

“I think we were a little deeper,” Stuckswisch said of Trinity’s depth. “We got contributions from all 10 players, and I think (the Hilltoppers) were wore out by the third and fourth quarters. I think our aggressiveness with the press and constantly having pressure on the ball helped us tonight.

“We did a lot more smart decisions tonight. We played under control, we didn’t have a lot of turnovers and made some smart decisions in the transition.”

A.J. Goecker topped the Cougars (4-11) with 19 points and tied Marksberry for a team-high six rebounds.

Ten different Cougars scored with all the starters scoring at least six points. Marksberry scored nine and Trent Shoemaker came off the bench and scored nine.

Stuart was high scorer for Shawe with 23 points to go along with 12 rebounds.

“It was four quarters,” Stuckwisch said. “We’ve been looking to play a (full) game. We always have one quarter where it seems like we slip up and make a few mistakes. This game was four quarters, and we played the whole game.”

Tonight’s scheduled game at Brownstown Central has been postponed until Tuesday night.