After going two-and-out at the Class 1A state tournament last year and then losing a double-digit, second-half lead in their first-round game on Wednesday, the Castle Rock Rockets got to enjoy something nobody in the lineup had ever experienced: Victory in a state-tournament game.

“A big splash of relief, that’s what it feels like,” Rockets senior Dustin Hamilton said with a grin, after turning in a 10-point, 11-rebound performance in Castle Rock’s 54-40 victory over Granger at the Yakima SunDome.

Hamilton scored five of his points during a 13-9 third-quarter run that gave the Rockets some breathing room, and then had a pair of fourth-quarter assists to Zack Gehring, who scored eight of his 11 points in that final period to keep the Spartans at bay.

“He’s our horse,” Hamilton said of Gehring. “He’s the guy who got us here, and we know he’s going to keep working hard in the there all the time.”

The victory advanced the Rockets (18-6) into a loser-out, winner-gets-a-trophy game at 12:30 p.m. today against Naches Valley (17-8), a 50-43 victor over Kalama.

Castle Rock, which also got 11 points from Mike Murray, jumped out to the lead early and stuck with its game plan, while Granger basically shot itself out of the game with 5-for-28 3-point shooting.

“It’s always easier to play the game on your terms, when you’re ahead,” Rockets coach Kevin Johnson said. “That’s kind of the buzz-saw we ran into (Wednesday), and they (the Spartans) did today. They started shooting the ball a little bit poorly, especially with the 3-pointers. But they keep coming at you defensively, I can tell you that — they defend as hard as anybody we’ve played all year.”

The previous day’s loss to Seattle Academy, in which the Rockets blew a big lead, then fell behind by a bunch, rallied to tie and finally lost in overtime, didn’t seem to have any lingering effect.

“It was hard to get over (the opening-day loss),” Gehring said. “But we kept telling the guys, that game’s over, we’ve got to come out and stay relaxed and positive. And leave it all on the court — just play to win.”

Despite Granger’s woeful shooting — 25 percent for the game, 15-for-60 — the outcome remained in doubt until the final five minutes. That was when Gehring took over, scoring six unanswered points.

The first basket came in transition, with Chris Tinney dribbling through the Granger press and hitting Gehring for a layup. On the next two baskets, Hamilton penetrated and dished to the beefy 6-foot-3 center for assists.

“He’s a big strong boy,” Johnson said of Gehring, who will play football next year at Eastern Washington University. “And he definitely came to play today.”

And one of the results is that the Rockets will get to come to play again … today.

Rockets 54, Spartans 40

CASTLE ROCK (54) — Murray 11, Tinney 7, Gehring 11, Horsley 4, King 0, Johnston 0, Williamson 4, Karnofski 3, Hamilton 10, Dolan 0, Erderbrock 0, Reebs 4. Totals 16-41 20-34 54.

GRANGER (40) — Villa 6, Oswalt 11, Cortez 0, Lopez 3, C. Carpenter 0, Jochen 6, Vivar 0, Zapien 4, Ramos 0, A. Carpenter 0, Reddout 0, Paul 10. Totals 15-60 5-12 40.

Castle Rock      12   11   13   18 — 54

Granger              11     8     9   12 — 40