ARIMO — Brandon Carlsen slipped a piece of the net into his pocket before standing next to his sons.

Bear Lake’s coach posed for pictures with Ashton and Avery Carlsen and the 2A District 5 first-place trophy, a moment for the family to savor, after helping his team cut down the net. Bear Lake beat Aberdeen 53-42 on Wednesday at Marsh Valley High School to notch its second consecutive district crown.

“It’s awesome to come in here and win,” coach Carlsen said. “Aberdeen has gotten better. They can beat anyone on any given night.”

The Bears trailed 4-0, 2 minutes, 46 seconds into the game, but the squad closed the first half on a 23-4 run to jump ahead by double digits. Bear Lake led by 10 points or more until the 1:01 mark of the fourth quarter, when Aberdeen cut its deficit to 48-39. The Tigers never cut their deficit to fewer than nine points, falling victim to the Bears’ defensive intensity.

Aberdeen was scoreless from the 6:14 mark of the first quarter until the 3:06 mark of the second. During that span, the Tigers missed nine consecutive shots and turned the ball over six times. Aberdeen made 1 of 12 field goals in the first quarter and 2 of 8 field goals in the second, while Bear Lake was 10 of 20 during that span.

The Bears capitalized on the miscues behind eight second-quarter points from Houston Peterson, whose 10 first-half points paced the team.

“We dug ourselves into too deep of a hole,” Aberdeen coach Joe Ingersoll said. “You can’t do that against a team like Bear Lake.”S

Hayden Peterson picked up in the third quarter where his brother left off, scoring eight points to spearhead the Bears’ offensive attack. Houston Peterson led all scorers with 14 points.

Bear Lake increased its lead to 42-25 with 7:20 left in the game before the Tigers closed the gap behind four fourth-quarter points apiece from Bo Knittel, Dalllon Elliott and Jaxson Wahlen.

Elliott finished the game with a team-high 12 points, including knocking down three triples. As a team, Aberdeen shot 4 of 17 from behind the arc.

“We took too many 3s,” Ingersoll said. “That is what we talked about at halftime. We needed to get the ball inside.”

Aberdeen clinched its first state tournament bid since 2009 after beating West Side 63-53. on Monday. The squad had to earn its way into the double-elimination district tournament with a play-in game victory against Malad.

The fourth-seeded Tigers (14-11) then won three of five games in nine days to get to state, where they play Ririe on March 1 at Capital High School at 6:15 p.m. Aberdeen was on a three-game losing streak headed into the district tourney, but rallied to earn the district’s second seed to state.

“No one gave us a chance to be where we are at,” Ingersoll said. “We are going to state. Words can’t describe this. I still get choked up. Monday night was huge for us.”

Bear Lake (21-3) begins its quest to defend its state title Thursday at 1:15 p.m. at Capital High School against North Fremont. The Bears have won 13 consecutive games since their last loss Jan. 6 at 3A Shelley.

The team needs three more to go down in history as back-to-back state champions.

“We’ve gotten to where we are at by defense,” coach Carlsen said. “We need to continue that. Once you get to state, anything can happen. We have to come in and play with the confidence that we have.”

Bear Lake 53, Aberdeen 42