Late in the third quarter Wednesday night, Bear Lake’s Ryan Gundersen sent a wrap around pass to a wide open Porter Wallentine who capitalized with a layup and an opportunity for a three-point play.

    Wallentine missed the free throw but the Bears still led by 10.

    Heading into the final quarter, Bear Lake led 36-28 and the plan was simple: Keep playing a solid game on both sides of the floor and a berth in Tuesday’s 3A Fifth District championship game was all but locked up. Allow Marsh Valley to hang around and it could be the Eagles that would meet top-seeded Snake River on Tuesday.

    Despite a scare, Bear Lake was able to hang on hitting 10-of-14 free throws in the final 4:25 of the game to earn the 53-38 win over Marsh Valley at Pocatello High School Tuesday.

    “They worked hard all night long,” Bear Lake head coach Brandon Carlsen said of Marsh Valley. “All game long we were on the verge of taking the game an running away with it. But credit Marsh Valley with what they were doing to us.

    But we also did a lot of stupid things at times and turned the ball over and did not get the easy rebounds. Give (Marsh Valley head coach Jason) Brower a lot of credit, he always has is team ready to play.”

    The Eagles actually able to cut the deficit to 36-30 after a Tristan Nichols’ layup, but the Bears scored the next five points on a three-point play form Gundersen and a layup from Caleb Phillips.

    With six minutes to play, Bear Lake led 41-30.

    Marsh Valley was able to cut the deficit down to eight twice, but never any closer.

    “We made a heck of a run to start the second half,” Carlsen said. “But they chipped away and chipped away and cut the lead down to six, but our kids did not panic. We bumped it back up 10 points, and that’s where the lead was the whole game.”

    The Eagles outscored Bear Lake 11-4 in the final three minutes of the third quarter to get back in the game.

    “The difference in my eyes tonight was that we have to eliminate turnovers. We turned the ball over way too many times tonight,” Brower said. “We let them get too many extra shots. We have to be able to play better defense against a good team like they are, and we need to keep Porter Wallentine off the free throw line because he will score from there.”

    Wallentine scored seven of his game-high 18 points from the line.

    Early on in the game, the Bears used their size advantage in the post to dominate the paint.

    Gundersen, Caleb Phillips and Keaton Price found easy baskets and gave the Bears an 11-point lead after one quarter.

    The trio combined for 25 points.

    “I don’t think we ever got into the rhythm of the game tonight,” Brower said. “Our offense was rough and the ball did not move around very well, but we got points in transition and that helped. But we have to push the ball smarter and not turn it over.”

    Wallentine’s 18 led Bear Lake, while Phillips added 13 points. The Eagles were led by Gage Barker who finished the game with 10 points.

    The teams are not back on the floor until Tuesday when Marsh Valley will take on American Falls in an elimination game. Bear Lake and Snake River will meet in the district championship with state tournament berth on the line.

    American Falls and Marsh Valley tipoff at 5 p.m. and Snake River and Bear Lake tipoff at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Pocatello High School.

Bear Lake 53, Marsh Valley 38

Marsh Valley    4    13    11    10 — 38

Bear Lake    15    9    12    17 — 53

Marsh Valley — Andy Criddle 2 0-2 4, Gage Barker 4 2-2 10, Joseph Andrus 2 0-0 5, Tristan Nichols 4 0-0 8, Andrew Vaughan 1 0-0 3, Josh Smedley 2 1-2 5, Tyeson Iverson 1 1-1 3; Bear Lake — Kade Pitchford 2 0-1 4, Kasey Keetch 1 0-0 2, Caleb Phillips 6 1-3 13, Porter Wallentine 4 7-10 18, Keaton Price 1 5-6 8, Ryan Gundersen 3 1-2 7.