It wasn’t the prettiest of games.

But for a team that thrives on defense as much as Cranston West, looks don’t really matter.

The Falcons kept South Kingstown star Ben Hamill in check for most of Monday’s game and held the Rebels without a point for seven minutes in the second half. Thanks to those defensive efforts, the Falcons limited South to its lowest point total of the season and came away with a 51-38 victory, which moves them to 8-3.

“Players like Hamill and [Rory] McEntee – we really concentrate on players like that,” said West head coach Jim Moretti. “We stress defense. They scored 38 points and they average 63. We didn’t do much better, but I’ll take it.”

On this night, the Falcons were happy to play a defensive game. Friday, they had their seven-game winning streak snapped with a 74-64 loss to Division I-South leader North Kingstown. The 74 points were the most West had allowed all season.

With the Rebels coming to town Monday, the Falcons knew they needed to bounce back quickly. South came in with a 6-4 record, having beaten Central on Friday.

Moretti said last week that if the Falcons are going to climb into the upper echelon, they’ll need to beat teams like South Kingstown, a solid squad that can play with anybody.

The Falcons got it done by focusing on defense.

South missed its first 10 shots. Hamill, who’s D-I’s second-leading scorer at 22.6 points per game, faced switching defenses and constant pressure from Vinny Cortellessa. He didn’t get on the board until the five-minute mark.

Hamill ended up with 18 points, but Moretti felt they were a quiet 18.

“I thought we did well against Hamill,” Moretti said. “He’s a nice player but he forced a lot tonight. McEntee is a strong player, but he wasn’t getting the ball tonight in a position where he could hurt us. We tried a couple of different things and I think the zones and the trap helped us. We were dropping to the right spots. If we drop and get to the spots, we can cause some trouble.”

The Falcons used a half-court trap to force 10 first-half turnovers. Two of those helped power a 7-0 burst that put West up 18-14.

But the Falcons couldn’t pull away before the break, with two factors keeping them down. At one end, they weren’t shooting well. At the other, the Rebels weren’t either – they shot 21 percent in the half – but they pulled down 11 offensive rebounds. The score was tied 21-21 at the half.

“Even though they weren’t making shots in the first half, they were getting a lot of rebounds,” Moretti said. “They were getting putbacks and easy baskets because of that. They’re not playing great offensively right now, but we couldn’t give them easy stuff.”

The Falcons figured the offense would sort itself out. As the second half began, they kept their focus trained squarely on the defensive end.

“We broke down on defense,” said point guard Bryan Yarce. “During halftime, it was a tie game and coach said we really needed to step it up on defense. That’s what we did.”

The Rebels got a pair of three-pointers by Hamill early in the second half, with the second one tying the game at 29-29. After a Yarce floater, South tied the game again on a follow by Joseph Vasquez with 8:42 left.

That’s when the tide turned.

The Rebels went without a point for more than seven minutes, until Hamill banked in a deep three with 1:31 left. In that span, the Falcons went on a 12-0 run to blow the game open.

The Rebels missed 12 field-goal attempts during the run, part of a dismal second half. They shot just 18 percent from the field. While much of that can be attributed simply to poor shooting, West’s defense had something to do with it. There weren’t many open looks.

“I thought we really picked it up defensively,” Moretti said. “The kids bought in. We also rebounded the ball better. Eric Rosa came off the bench and did a real nice job.”

West also hit its stride at the offensive end. Two buckets by Andrew Levy started the run, before Konner Gershkoff buried a three-pointer. Gershkoff had come off the bench for the first time around the 10-minute mark. He picked Hamill’s pocket soon after he came in but missed the lay-up at the other end. When he got the open look, he didn’t blink.

After a tough driving lay-up by Yarce pushed the lead to nine, Steve Rush took a kick-out pass from Yarce and drilled a three to make it 12.

Those threes by Gershkoff and Rush are a perfect example of what has helped West thrive this season. While Yarce and Levy carry much of the scoring load and Jeff Diehl controls the paint, players like Gershkoff and Rush have come up big when their number has been called.

“Getting threes by Gershkoff and Rush was just huge,” Moretti said. “Those are back-breakers. That was a close game until they hit those threes.”

While Hamill’s three at 1:31 ended the drought, the Rebels couldn’t get back into the game. They sent the Falcons to the free-throw line six times in the final 1:26. West made eight of 11.

“We did what we had to do,” Moretti said. “Yarce stepped up and went to the basket when he needed to and dished when he needed to. Levy came up big and hit his free throws down the stretch.”

Yarce recorded his third triple-double of the season with 14 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Levy led all scorers with 21 points. Though he never really took over the game, Levy scored some of West’s biggest points.

“You don’t notice it because he’s not flashy,” Moretti said. “But he does some real nice things for us out there. He’s very smooth and he made a couple of big plays for us tonight.”

The win kept the Falcons near the top of the Division I standings. While they sit in second place to undefeated Bishop Hendricken in D-I-West, the Falcons have the fourth-best record in the whole league.

West will visit St. Raphael on Friday at 7 p.m.