Dominic Rivera is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Peoria High School for AZPreps365.com.

Peoria won its 10th straight game Tuesday with another offensive explosion.

But that’s not what propelled the Panthers to an 83-57 victory over Desert Edge.

“It’s always defense first for us,” said senior guard Isaac Monroe. “We make sure we are locked in on defense because that’s what wins us games.”

Peoria got off to a fast start and took an early 6-3 lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the Panthers went on an 11-6 run to finish out the first quarter.

“Really it was making the adjustments based on how they were matching up against us, getting a feel for the gym, and then locking in on our game plan that we set forth,” said coach Patrick Battillo.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Panthers found the open man on almost all their possessions due in large part to ball movement.

The Panthers went into halftime with a 40-22 lead.

Even with the big lead, there were still areas of improvement.

“The message at halftime was to make the adjustments we needed to make and come out even stronger than we started the game,” said Battillo. “We knew that we were going to see a different look from them that was in our game plan and now our job was to come out and execute to that plan.”

Coming out of the half, the Panthers defense let up, which led to the Scorpions scoring 21 points in the third quarter and cutting the lead to 16.

Although the defense was staggered in the third, the Panthers offense continued to roll with help from junior guard Corey Perry hitting some three-pointers which were “key and pivotal.” The hot hands of Isaac Monroe and freshman guard Andrew Camacho kept both the lead in double-digits and the team energized.

“When one of us are doing good, it gives all of us a boost of energy when we are hitting shots,” said Monroe.

Camacho finished the game leading his team with 20 points after shooting 64% from the field and Monroe finished the game with 19 points after shooting 57% from the field.

The Panthers now look to keep their winning streak alive as they have another tough game ahead of them when they travel to Flagstaff to take on the Coconino High School Panthers Friday at 7 p.m.