The boys from Tucson Desert Christian played some of their best basketball of the year on Friday night (Jan. 25) and some of their worst, all in the same game.

Fortunately for the Eagles, there was more good than bad, and they put an official stamp on their bid to become a state championship contender in Division IV with a big 52-41 road victory at Phoenix Arizona Lutheran.

Desert Christian, which had entered the day at No. 2 in the Division IV power seedings behind Glendale Joy Christian, raised its record to 23-4. Arizona Lutheran, No. 7 in the power seedings, slipped to 19-5.

“We kind of knew that to really be recognized, we’d have to come up here (to the Valley) and beat some of the Phoenix teams,’’ said Desert Christian coach Iram Alday. “It was a good win for us. I am proud of the team.’’

Desert Christian was in danger of letting this one get away almost before it started.

The Eagles did not score for the first 4:10 and trailed 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.

They fought back for a 23-20 lead at the half, trailed 26-25 with about five minutes left in the third quarter and then went ahead for good on a 3-pointer by Ben Brandon. He hit another trey shortly thereafter for a 33-27 lead and went on to finish with a game-high 12 points.

Desert Christian also tightened up its defense, forcing Arizona Lutheran to attempt some lower-percentage shots. And the Coyotes forced some shots on their own, without Desert Christian’s help.

Arizona Lutheran had plenty of opportunity to stay in the game, but its free-throw shooting left a bit to be desired. It went to the line 25 times in the second half and made only 11. It finished the game by making just half of its shots from the line, 19 of 38.

Desert Christian, meanwhile, went to the line 17 times for the game and made just nine.

The Eagles had good scoring balance. In addition to Brandon’s output, they had one player with eight points, two with seven and two with six. That is exactly the type of game that Alday wants to see.

“We are a very athletic team, a very deep team,’’ he said. “We are a hard team to scout. You never know which guy is going to be the leading scorer. We have a lot of guys who are the same size who we move in and out (of the lineup), and we don’t miss much.

“We were behind early tonight, but I think it helped us that we also were  behind in some of our games early in the season and came back, so we knew what we were capable of.’’

Kris Lamberson led Arizona Lutheran with 13 points.