Mountain View ran away in the third quarter Tuesday night and beat Bend 74-55 — the Cougars’ third-straight double-digit win — to set up a winner-take-all matchup against Summit on Friday for the Intermountain Conference boys basketball championship.

With the road win, the Class 5A No. 7-ranked Cougars (9-2 IMC, 17-5 overall) sit one game ahead of Summit (8-3 IMC) and two games ahead of Bend in the league standings.

Mountain View led 30-28 at halftime on Tuesday, but Chase McClain scored nine of his 24 points and Matt Van Tassell scored seven of his 20 points during the third quarter as the Cougars outscored the Lava Bears 28-11.

“We had some kids in foul trouble early on, we just had to get through that first half,” Mountain View coach Brian Broaddus said. “We’re not the deepest team, we’re playing six sophomores, and coming out of the half we had the starters back on the floor and we hit some shots.”

The Cougars hit four 3-pointers during the key third quarter. Austin Fields also contributed nine points to the Mountain View effort, and Storm Scott had seven points and seven rebounds.

Mountain View’s Sawyer DeMeyer guarded Bend’s top scorer, Brock Mesarich, for much of the game, holding him to 11 points. Brian Warinner scored 10 and Eshan Chopra had nine for the No. 10 Lava Bears (7-4, 16-5).

The Cougars have now won three straight and close out the regular season at home against Summit, the last team to defeat Mountain View.

“We’re getting a lot more confidence. After we lost Taiton Fox (to injury), it was a two-man show with McClain and Van Tassell,” Broaddus said. “We had to get these sophomores up to speed. The last three games, the guys are playing better together, less turnovers.

“It should be fun, two good teams going at it on our home court (for a conference championship). Our gym is nice and loud.”