Cedar’s Mason Fakahua attempts a layup during the game against Desert Hills, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.

Desert Hills defenders try to force a turnover during the game against Cedar, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.

Desert Hills’ Dallin Bleak dribbles the ball towards the basket during the game against Cedar, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.

Marcus McKone scored a game-high 18 points and Logan Hokanson put up 17 to help Desert Hills come into Cedar City and cruise home with a 70-49 victory over the Redmen on Friday.

It was the sixth consecutive win for the Thunder, who remain perfect at 2-0 in Region 9 and improved their overall record to 12-1 for the season.

The Reds kept the game tight for the first quarter of play, but once Desert Hills got its rhythm going the Thunder took control and never flinched.

“We were not playing our style of offense at first. We were rushing our shots,” Hokanson said. “But we called a time out, slowed it down and started passing the ball around. That made a big difference.”

The teams battled through a pair of ties and seven lead changes in the first six minutes until Desert Hills finally grabbed a permanent lead at 11-9 on a 3-point shot from Hokanson.

The Thunder led 15-11 after the first quarter and had things going their way, but Cedar’s Keenan Nielson kept his team in the game, scoring 10 of the Reds’ 12 points in the second period to temporarily stall the blowout.

“Cedar came out and was physical and did a good job of executing their offense,” Desert Hills coach Wade Turley said. “We had to make a few adjustments in our defense to slow (Nielson) down. He started really hot. But the team bought in to what we needed to do and we executed it well.”

Nielson scored all of his 13 points in the first half as the Thunder’s defense corralled him for the rest of the game.

Six Desert Hills players put points on the board in the second quarter as the lead slowly began to creep further and further ahead.

The Thunder took a 36-23 lead into the intermission and kept up the offense in the second half, outscoring Cedar 17-13 in the third quarter to widen it to 53-36.

Parker Haynie and Mason Fakahua carried the load for Cedar in the third, scoring all of the Reds’ 13 points as they fought to keep the game from getting any further out of hand.

But a flurry of offense from the Thunder to start the fourth quarter sunk Cedar for good.

McKone lit it up from long range, hitting three consecutive treys to start the period while Porter and Clayton added a pair as Desert Hills opened the frame on a 15-4 run and pushed the lead to 68-40.

A pair of foul shots from Jayce Jones were the only other points Desert Hills got in the closing quarter as the starters took a seat with three minutes left to play.

“We just worked as a team,” Jones said. “We have a lot of shooters, a lot of depth and a lot of guys who can get up and down the floor.”

Cedar put up nine more points before the clock ran out, ending the night with an 0-2 region record.

Desert Hills finished the game with 11 buckets from beyond the arc, four of them coming from McKone, three from Hokanson, two from Clayton and one each from Porter and Ty Simister.