HALTOM CITY – Duncanville coach Phil McNeely said he had to figure out a way to stop Lewisville's lightning-quick guards from penetrating to the basket. Once his team found the answer, its lead slowly increased.

Duncanville turned a 1-point third-quarter advantage into a double-digit victory with a strong fourth quarter, downing Lewisville, 79-66, in a 5A Region I quarterfinal matchup at Thomas Coliseum. The game featured two of the state's top teams; Duncanville is No. 1, and Lewisville is No. 7 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches 5A state poll.

Part of Duncanville's success stemmed from its defensive adjustments in the fourth, which resulted in early fast-break points. Duncanville (35-0) outscored Lewisville, 13-3, in the first three minutes of the quarter.

"They're quick, and they were getting to the lane whenever they wanted," McNeely said. "We had to loosen the pressure and sag in the middle so we could take away their drive.

"It's hard to do that when you've been pressuring the ball all year long. But we had to make some adjustments because of their quickness."

Duncanville went into the locker room with a 37-30 halftime lead. It led by as many as 11, but Lewisville rallied in the third to briefly take a 50-49 advantage. Two free throws by Corey Johnson gave Duncanville a 51-50 lead to end the third.

Duncanville regained a double-digit lead at the five-minute mark when Kevin Butler made a layup high off the glass. Lewisville (30-4) trailed by as many as 13 with less than two minutes left to play.

Butler and Brian Talley, two of Duncanville's reserve players, scored 16 of Duncanville's 28 fourth-quarter points. Talley led all scorers with 18. Butler had 16, and D'walyn Roberts, battling ankle problems from last week, had 14 points and nine rebounds.

Austin Brown had 16 points and eight rebounds for Lewisville, which made 26 field goals to Duncanville's 24. Lewisville's Achilles' heel, however, was its free throw shooting. The team made only 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) from the line.