NEDERLAND — Hayden Hefner and the Nederland Bulldogs weren’t interested in letting Friday’s rivalry game with the Port Neches-Groves Indians remain a close battle.

Hefner ignited a 13-0 run with a pair of three-point baskets after Nederland led the first quarter by one point, and the Bulldogs only led by double digits from there in taking a 53-40 win.

“They were leading, and we wanted to shut them down defensively,” said junior Hayden Hefner, who had a game-high 20 points for Nederland. PNG last led 9-6, 4 minutes into the game.

“We knew the only way we were going to beat this team was on defense,” Hefner said. “We had to get our shots up and get our points in.”

Nederland (15-5, 2-0 in 21-5A) is 2-0 on the season against the PNG (9-8, 1-1). The Bulldogs won the first meeting in the Hardin-Jefferson Basketball Marathon earlier this month.

Hefner had 10 in the fourth quarter after a scoreless third period, as the Bulldogs expanded a 41-31 lead. His two treys to start the second-half rally gave him a little extra confidence in his shot.

“I hadn’t really been knocking them down as of late,” Hefner said. “I just keep shooting the ball, hoping for the best, knowing one day it’s going to go in at the right time.”

Joseph Gipson finished with nine points, all on three-pointers, and Cedric Pete added 10.

“Luckily, I thought some of our other guards played more aggressively tonight,” Bulldogs coach Brian English said. “We got some transition baskets early. Overall, pretty good group effort, I thought.”

Tracy Smith had 13 points and Noah Marchak nine for PNG. Drake Rojas was held to six points, all in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs led 29-19 at halftime, and they used their inside presence to lead to points in transition with bigs J.B. Rahe, Tyler Jackson and Hefner leading the defensive effort in the paint.

“Just using my height and boxing them out to get rebounds,” said Rahe, who had four points.

Said English: “Yeah, we’ve been working on our post defense. First quarter, we let them score too many. We settled in and did a better job.”

Nederland will take on Channelview and Houston Episcopal in the Gulf Coast Classic at Barbers Hill on Dec. 27. PNG will play in the Bridge City Cardinal Classic next week.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews