With his team up 16-10 at the first-quarter break, Coach Jeff Perales felt the need to tweak just a few things in the Mooseheart-vs.-Kirkland-Hiawatha boys' basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Perales then watched his Mooseheart team shift into overdrive to outscore the visiting Hawks 27-10 in the second quarter. That burst opened a 43-20 halftime edge and set the Ramblers well on their way to a 65-31 victory.

"We had (Tovar) bring the ball up, which he normally doesn't do," Perales explained. "Floyd (Mays) got out on the wing and started running. No one could catch him."

The win, Mooseheart's seventh straight after a pair of season-opening losses sets the Ramblers into their Christmas break with a 7-2 record.

"We played really poorly the first couple of games," Perales said. "We played some pretty tough competition those first couple of games too. But it's nice to end on a 7-0 run going into the break. Hopefully we'll come back and continue that streak."

Mooseheart senior Mike Tovar scored a season-high 22 points, but did other things that helped key the victory.

Benefiting from some solid Tovar passes, Mays scored 11 second quarter points, which were all the points the senior scored in the contest.

"That just opened up the game from there," Perales said.

The Ramblers dressed eight players for the game. All played and all scored, though there was balance throughout the lineup. After Tovar and Mays, Brandon Moreno's eight-point effort was Mooseheart's best.

Mooseheart:
Kendor 3 0-0 6, Smith 2 0-0 4, Mays 5 0-0 11, Morones 2 2-2 6, Tovar 11 0-0 22, Davy 1 0-0 2, Grasty 3 0-0 6, Moreno 4 0-0 8. Totals 31 2-2 65.

Kirkland-Hiawatha:
Keneway 1 0-0 2, Failla 1 1-2 3, Webster 0 0-1 0, Doles 0 0-0 0, Welc 0 0-0 0, Wittwer 4 0-0 8, Kadela 2 0-0 4, Wembyer 1 0-0 2, Clark 5 2-3 12. Totals 14 3-6 31.

Mooseheart 16 27 10 12 - 65
Kirkland-Hiawatha 10 10 4 7 - 31

3-point goals:
Mooseheart: Mays 1.
Kirkland-Hiawatha 0. Fouled out: None.