CORINTH — After a weekend of beating up on Class 5A competition at the South Garland Shootout, the Ponder Lions stepped down a class on Tuesday but kept up their winning ways, earning a 61-28 win over Class 4A Lake Dallas.

DRC/David Minton

Ponder’s Scott Gregg, right, grabs a rebound as Gerald Pleasant of Lake Dallas defends on Tuesday in Corinth. The Lions won, 61-28.

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Four of the seven active players on Ponder’s roster reached double figures in the blowout, and the Lion defense held the Falcons to single-digit scoring in each quarter.

“That’s a point of emphasis for us — getting those shut-down quarters,” said Ponder head coach Jude Stanley. “That was big for us. These guys all know that our man-to-man defense is our bread and butter.”

Ponder came into the game as the No. 2 team in the TABC Class 2A state rankings, but Lake Dallas (4-9) was able to stay in the game through the first half, as Ponder’s outside shots missed the mark a little more than Stanley would have liked. The Lions hit on just 3-of-15 three-point attempts in the first two quarters.

Lake Dallas guard Travis McGhie hit a pull-up jumper with just under 1:30 to play in the first quarter to bring the Falcons to within five, down 14-9. But Ponder point guard Jorden Young’s long ball with 55 seconds left gave the Lions (12-3) an eight-point lead after one.

The Falcons lost the second quarter by just five points as well, making the score at half 30-17. Guard Chris Henri his one of his two 3-pointers early on to bring Lake Dallas to within 20-14. Henri led the Falcons with nine points in the loss.

Ponder’s offense hit a cold streak early in the second quarter before waking up and going on a 10-3 run to end the half. Four of those points came in a span of 20 seconds, as Young found 6-5 post man Scott Gregg on a lob before stealing Lake Dallas’ next inbound pass and scoring on a layup with five seconds left in the half.

The momentum carried over from the late flurry in the second and sent Ponder on a 25-6 run that stretched from the end of the second quarter to the first possession of the fourth quarter. The Lions nailed five 3-pointers in the second half, and the inside-out game was working.

Outside threats Young, David Robertson and Kaleb Broad-street had 10, 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Gregg added 10 more in the paint.

“That’s the kind of game we want to have offensively,” Stanley said. “We want everyone to get involved and spread out the scoring, and we were able to do that [on Tuesday].”

Lake Dallas head coach Matthew Kloske added: “They can hurt you in a lot of different ways. They’ve always been a good shooting team, but you can’t take your eyes off of [Gregg], either. And they made things difficult on us.”

The Lions scored eight quick points in the first two minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach, but their relentless defense also kept Lake Dallas out of the paint for virtually the entire game.

MATT MARTINEZ can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is mmartinez@dentonrc.com

Ponder 61, Lake Dallas 28

Ponder (12-3) – Jorden Young 12, David Robertson 14, Scott Gregg 10, Alex Huerta 7, Kaleb Broadstreet 12, Wade Ford 6.

Lake Dallas (4-9) – Alex Osborne 2, Chris Henri 9, Charles Gowans 2, Travis McGhie 7, Fernando Joseph 2, Jesse Swartz 2, Aran Farrell 2, Gerald Pleasant 2.