Hamilton Christian crashed the boards and used defensive pressure to turn a close game into a blowout Tuesday night and moved within a game of its third consecutive undefeated District 5-1A championship.

Hamilton beat East Beauregard 64-27 to win its eighth consecutive game.

Warriors can close out the district championship with a win at Merryville (14-12, 4-1) on Friday.

Dray Vital, a 6-10 sophomore center, led the Warriors with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, as 11 of 13 players scored.

Hamilton outrebounded East Beauregard 32-19.

Tied 8-8, Hamilton (13-10, 5-0) outscored East Beauregard (9-14, 4-2) 23-4 in the second quarter, scoring 16 points on turnovers and offensive rebounds. The Warriors forced 15 turnovers in the second quarter while shooting 44 percent from the field.

Shawn Weston’s putback broke the tie, and Dray Vital added another for a 12-8 lead.

The Warriors kept up the pressure in the third quarter. They forced another 10 turnovers, outscored the Trojans 22-5 and forced a running clock by the end of the quarter.

East Beauregard was up 8-5 after a three by Freddy Beall with 2:10 left in the first quarter, but the Warriors tied it on a bucket in the lane by Dray Vital.

Beall was the Trojans’ top scorer with nine points, all on 3-pointers.