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Murray had a chance to move into a tie atop the Region 7 standings Tuesday night.

But Olympus held serve on its home court with a 58-39 victory to finish an unbeaten run through the first half of region play.

The Titans, who struggled at times against a Murray zone defense anchored by 6-foot-10 senior center Nate Aland, broke away in the second quarter by patiently looking for gaps.

Sophomore Jake Lindsey worked his way inside after more than two minutes of scoreless play to start the second quarter to put Olympus (11-5, 5-0) up 16-14. That bucket kicked off a 12-1 run that lasted nearly the entire stanza.

"When you have somebody with that size, you can't just take it right at him," said Lindsey, who led all scorers with 14 points. "You need to get him [Aland] to move around, hopefully wear him down."

The second period was perplexing for Murray. The Spartans (9-9, 3-2) turned over the ball 11 times in the first quarter, which ended in a 14-14 tie. The visitors had committed only three more turnovers five minutes into the second quarter, but they were unable to dent the scoreboard until Justin Adams hit a free throw with 3 minutes, 20 seconds remaining before intermission.

"We turned the ball over in the first quarter, but we hit a couple of shots," Murray coach Jason Workman said. "I thought we lost our poise in the second on both ends. We rushed shots and hurried."

The Spartans, led by Aland's 13 points and eight rebounds, did trim the double-digit deficit to seven early in the third when an Aland bucket was followed by a Chase Topham 3-pointer to make the score 29-22.

Two Lindsey baskets sandwiched between a field goal by Murray's Dylan Ross stemmed the mini-comeback. Then Olympus' Connor Haller found J.R. Tailey, who had nine points and nine rebounds, for another score to push the margin back to 11.

Proficient free-throw shooting down the stretch helped keep any further comeback attempts at bay. Olympus hit its first 14 attempts from the charity stripe.

"Us and Murray always have a war every time we play," Titans coach Matt Barnes said. "It was a big game for us being at home and with a one-game lead in the region. I thought our defense was terrific. They're a high-powered offensive team, and we held them to 39. We're very happy with that." —