Mesa High's boys basketball team continued a solid, early-season stretch on Tuesday night  winning its eighth game in 10 tries with a 57-44 win over Perry at Jackrabbit Gym.

Mesa, the defending big-school champion, doesn't have all the pieces from last year's title team, but a couple of those returning keyed the victory in this one -- senior DJ Henderson and junior Mark Hatch.

Henderson kept Mesa in control much of the first half with 10 of his game-high 17 points. The Jackrabbits owned a slim 22-18 edge at intermission. In an otherwise cold-shooting first half, Henderson scored all his points posting up inside. It was fortunate for the Jackrabbits because teammates shots from the perimeter were not falling. Both teams shot in the mid-30 percent range in the opening half.

"I think we were like 2-for-10 from outside with our best shooters," Mesa coach Shane Burcar said. "DJ kept us going the first half and after we started slow the third quarter our other guys began making shots."

Varsity newcomer Zach Hobbs, a sophomore, picked up the offense for Mesa in the third period by scoring nine of his 12 points. He sank a pair of threes helping push the lead to double digits at 35-25 in the final minute of the third period. Both teams missed their first five shots in the third quarter. Overall it was an ugly quarter.

Mesa got a pair of baskets from the pesky Hatch in a five-second span early in the fourth quarter that put Perry down 12. Perry trailed by as many as 14 with four minutes left, but managed to claw its way back to a two-possession game at 48-42 with 1:18 to go.

Perry's strategy of fouling for possession helped pare the deficit, but the Pumas missed a couple layups that could have made the outcome a tad tighter come the final 90 seconds. Xavier Fuller, who added 15 points for Mesa, scored eight in the final period -- including 4-of-4 from the free-throw line to help salt it away.

Perry, now 4-5 under Sam Duane Jr. in his first season back after a year's hiatus, is trying to find a level of consistency that can get it over the .500 mark before the calendar turns to January.

"Every game it seems we have a stretch where we get in a funk," Duane Jr. said. "We don't have a lot of varsity experience, but we have to start improving game to game. Right now it's not happening."

Rajhan Billingsluy led Perry with 11 points and CJ Jamerson came off the bench to chip in with nine. Perry had a chance to stay with Mesa in the third period, but made only 3 of 13 shots in the quarter. Perry turned the ball over 13 times in the second half.