If any therapists were in the building to watch Pocatello’s 67-53 win over Preston Friday night, they probably left feeling thrilled. It wasn’t just that the Thunder pulled away with a monster second half, securing an enormous district win that will send waves through the mini three-team conference, nor was it the incredible shot-making the Thunder put together in the victory.

It was how patient Pocatello looked doing it all, operating with thoughtfulness and calmness.

The Indians did everything they could do to speed up the Thunder: Played a full-court press, matchup zone, tried to poke away steals and foster a faster pace. At every turn, Pocatello responded with measured plays that would make counseling doctorate students blush: Two turnaround jumpers from Matt Christensen. Correct passes to break the press. Sweet ball movement throughout.

Thanks to this win, Pocatello (15-2, 2-1) enjoys a few things: One, the Thunder secure no worse than the second seed in the 4A District 5 tournament, winning their second game in district play this season. They also topped Preston a second time, once on the road and once at home, proving that even if things don’t break their way in the seeding department, they feel comfortable wherever they have to play come tournament time.

“It’s nice, but I don’t know,” Pocatello coach Joe Green said, pondering the importance of this win, his team’s ninth straight. “We’ve won on the road and we’ve lost at home too. It’s nice to at least have one home game if we get the second seed. We kinda wanna stay in the moment for right now though, just to keep rolling if we can.”

If Friday’s game was any indication, the Thunder are on their way. Sophomore guard Julian Bowie twirled a 22-point night. Ryan Payne followed with 14 points. Even Matt Christensen chipped in 12, including six fourth-quarter points that helped Pocatello keep Preston at arm’s length.

The truth is that the Thunder won in large part because of that scoring effort, spread throughout the lineup like butter, but the fun parts were the individual plays.

Start with a play from Bowie, a phrase that’s beginning to sound like a broken record. On Friday night, Pocatello secured a miss and kicked off a fast break. Krue Hales passed ahead to Bowie, who outran the only defender in his way, took two steps in the lane and unleashed a vicious right-handed slam, a ferocious eruption that made The Pit sound more like The Volcano.

Only Bowie wasn’t done. When the Thunder got back on defense, Bowie stationed himself on the block, guarding his man. That’s when he noticed his team lapsed, giving Preston guard Steven Roberts an open layup. So Bowie shuffled across the lane, timed his jump and swatted the ball off the glass, a violent block that ignited another break.

This time, Payne kicked it ahead to Krue Hales, who finished a layup. Timeout Preston. The Pit sounded like a jet engine. Pocatello was taking control, an enormous run washing over the game like a tidal wave.

“I think at that point, we just needed one little spark, and we were going to blow it open,” Bowie said. “We got that there.”

“It was nice that we got some defensive pressure,” Green added. “We got the steal and we got it to him. The hammer dunk definitely motivated the crowd. Then the next play, the defensive play right after that, was huge. It just propelled us to a run. It was fun to watch and it was fun to be part of. I think it helped us a ton.”

So those were the exciting plays, the displays of athleticism and awareness that helped Pocatello create the separation it needed, but the reality is that to win this one, the Thunder had to stay patient.

In the first quarter, Christensen showed it best. Preston came out in a zone, so Pocatello found soft spots in the zone, where Christensen knocked down a pair of turnaround jumpers. Then, later in the game, Payne saw the Indians weren’t shading any defenders his way when he had the ball up top, so he took his man all the way to the rim and scored. Add in a few shots from Bowie that made him look like a trapeze artist and you start to understand how the Thunder scored in bunches.

“I thought they played off each other well tonight,” Green said. “I thought Ryan hit some huge, timely 3s and shots, just kinda put us on his back, made some big plays. Then you take away Ryan, we’ve got Julian as well. So I thought they played off each other really well tonight.”

The real challenge for Pocatello: Produce the same kind of night next week against Century, both teams’ biggest game this season.

In all likelihood, that game is for the 4A District 5 tournament’s top seed. It’s the last district game for Pocatello. Century has one more, against Preston next week, but the Indians are now mathematically eliminated from the district’s top spot.

In other words: No pressure.

“We just wanna win ball games,” Payne said. “Whoever’s next on our schedule, we’re gonna take them down.”