HINCKLEY -- Like a colt pulling on its lead rope trying to break free to run in an open pasture, Westminster Christian surged once at the start of the third quarter in Tuesday's regional opener against Mooseheart.

But the Ramblers kept hold of that rope and didn't let the Warriors get free.

Then Westminster Christian surged again, and that was all they needed to finally gain scoreboard separation with Mooseheart. The Warriors went on to win the IHSA Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock opening round contest 53-36. The loss avenged a 52-51 overtime defeat Mooseheart inflicted on Westminster Christian on Feb. 13.

"I was pleased with how we played tonight," Westminster Christian coach Bruce Firchau said. "We did get a little push up the floor. When we got that 8-10 lead, we went to the zone."

The Ramblers tried to stem the tide, but Westminster Christian was now in full gallop and impossible to rein in.

"I called two or three timeouts just to make sure, on defensive assignments, to find our guy, find our guy," Mooseheart coach Ron Ahrens said. "They had guys open all night. That was the downfall."

A number of those open shots were from long-range. Westminster Christian (17-10) hit four three-pointers in the first half and had five in the game. Mooseheart (13-12), but contrast, did not hit any three-pointers.

"If you leave Westminster open, they're going to knock down some three's," Ahrens said. "Our goal was to not leave anyone open and when they caught the ball, to make them dribble. We didn't do any of that."

The lead went from 27-22 to 36-26 - and then to 42-38 as the Warriors picked up third quarter momentum.

"We play very, very hard on D," Firchau said. "We have limitations offensively and we work the ball more than a lot of teams in this area do."

Brandon Moreno was practically the only source of offense for Mooseheart. The senior scored 22 of his team's 36 points.

Westminster Christian was more balanced. Mike Nicosia led the way with 12 points while Ben Carani and Ian Dutcher added 11 points apiece.

With his first year as varsity coach at Mooseheart complete, Ahrens said there is plenty of work to do as his squad enters the off-season.

"We've got a lot of work to do in the summer and we've got a lot of basketball IQ stuff that our kids need to learn," Ahrens said. "I looked at Somonauk. A couple of their key studs that they have playing - we beat them 57-19 when they were freshmen. But you know what their kids are doing all summer? Playing basketball."

Ahrens said he intends to address his team's lack of off-season work in the coming summer.

"We've got to improve our basketball IQ," Ahrens said. "We've got to play more basketball."
 
Mooseheart: Howell 0 0-0 0, Kendor 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-4 0, Brigman 2 0-0 4, Moreno 11 0-0 22, Moore 0 0-0 0, Crump 2 4-6 8. Totals 16 4-10 36.

Westminster : Beachler 1 2-6 4, Vanden Bos 1 1-2 3, Nicosia 5 0-0 12, Graves 2 0-2 5, L. Carani 3 1-3 7, B. Carani 3 3-3 11, Kalous 0 0-0 0, Dutcher 5 1-1 11. Totals 20 8-17 53.

Mooseheart      12        10        10        4          -           36
Westminster     14        13        17        9          -           53
Three-point goals: Nicosia 2, Graves 1, B. Carani 1. Fouled out: Crump.