Mountainside's Eli Vizconde (30) drives past Cleveland's Holland Lounsbury during Friday's home game. (Photo by Jim Beseda)

BEAVERTON — A little over a week into the regular season, it looks as if the Mountainside Mavericks have things trending in the right direction.

The most recent evidence came Friday night when Rogen Brown scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and the Mavericks pulled away for a 66-53 victory over the Cleveland Warriors in the opening game of the Mountainside Holiday Tourney at Mountainside High School.

Eli Vizconde finished 12 points and Palmer Ochoa had 11 to help send the Mavericks (2-1) into Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. championship final against the winner of Friday’s late game between the Lakeridge Pacers and the Sprague Olympians.

Andrew Haas led Cleveland with 14 points, while Colin Kruse scored 12 and Patrick Duque had 11 for the Warriors (2-2).

“We played really well as a team,” said Vizconde, the Mavericks’ senior co-captain. “That was probably our best game so far, playing as a team — together.

“The biggest improvement for us is definitely on the turnover side. We’ve been able to handle the ball a lot better, but … yeah, we’ve cleaned it up a lot. Tonight, honestly, the ball movement was really good. And our traps, especially on the other side of the court, we were able to get a lot of turnovers off that and easy buckets.”

Mountainside coach Dustin Miller liked what he saw from the Mavericks in their third straight home game to open the season and their third consecutive game against a team from the Portland Interscholastic League.

“I think we’re playing a little more confident and aggressive,” Miller said. “At times, the pendulum swung a little bit too much the other way. Now, we’re attacking a little too liberally, like shooting a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left and the lead … trying to get them to, you know, take a lay-up kind of thing.

“But, I’d rather have a team with an attacking mindset like tonight than the team we saw in the first game that tended to play a little tentative.’

Mountainside’s JJ Reyes and Vizconde each knocked down a 3-pointer during a 12-3 run to close out the first quarter that gave the Mavericks an 18-11 lead.

Cleveland’s Haas scored to pull the Warriors within 28-25 with just under two minutes to play in the second quarter, but Ryder Eck answered with a pair of buckets that pushed the Mountainside lead to 32-25 at halftime.

The Warriors were still within striking distance when Eck drew a technical foul with 5:10 to play in the third quarter and Duque made one of two free throws to cut the Mavericks’ lead to 35-31.

Then came one of the key turning points in the game when Haas, Cleveland’s 6-foot-7 senior post, missed a shot and came away with a bloody nose that forced him to the Warriors' bench with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter.

Mountainside capitalized, closing the third quarter on a 14-4 run that extended the lead to 49-35. The Mavericks maintained at least a 12-point cushion the rest of the way.

“I thought we made a couple bonehead plays late in the game,” Miller said. “We’re still trying to learn time and score. But that was one of the more physical games that we’ve played, at least, in the key.

“Cleveland has a really good post player, we’ve got a really good post player, and that was an absolute battle inside. That was fun to watch — old-school, post basketball.”

What about Haas having to leave the game with his bloody nose during that pivotal stretch in the third quarter?

“That, for sure, helped us,” Miller said. “That player, Andrew, on film, is impressive. He’s athletic, he can pass, he can post, he can finish. We actually played Cleveland last year in a tournament and he didn’t play a whole lot. He’s improved a lot. I’d be shocked if there are many other players that have improved more than he has from last year to this year.”