Dexter High School junior Dave LaMore brought Monday night's Class A district game against Pioneer to a screeching halt in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-8 center pretty much ended the game again.

A LaMore dunk broke a bolt on the backboard at Huron High School, causing a 55-minute delay. When the teams finally got back to action, his back-to-back post baskets late in game wrapped up a 51-38 win over the Pioneers.

Dexter coach Randy Swoverland thought LaMore's biggest contribution came early in the game, when he scored eight first-quarter points to give the Dreadnaughts (13-7) a lead they'd never relinquish.

"The key was in the first half Dave LaMore played like we needed him to play. He scored inside, he rebounded inside and he blocked a couple shots," Swoverland said. "I think he set the tone for our team in the first half with his play."

More coverage: Story & Photo Gallery on MLive.com | Boxscore

After Dexter took a 21-14 lead into halftime, both teams picked up their offense in the third quarter.

During a wild two-minute stretch, the teams exchanged three 3-point baskets apiece - without a missed shot.

Dexter's final 3-pointer, by Matt Muchmore, started a 7-0 scoring run that put the Dreadnaughts ahead 38-27 with 1:24 to play in the third quarter.

That's when officials noticed the damage LaMore had inflicted on the rim 30 seconds earlier. They stopped play and Huron staff members replaced the damaged rim with another from a side basket.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," LaMore said sheepishly after the game. "I actually was kind of mad because I thought it was going to screw up our momentum, but we got it back. We came back and had that same fire."

Swoverland said that he, too, was concerned his team would lose some momentum after the delay. Instead, it may have played a positive role.

"I didn't know if that was going to help us or hurt us because I've never been involved with anything like that," he said. "I knew we were tired, though, so I think that allowed me to not have to go to my bench too much."

At the end of the game, four Dexter starters had combined to score all 51 of their team's points.

LaMore finished with 18, Muchmore 14, Jay Lewis 10 and Stefan Elslager nine.

The closest Pioneer (12-8) got in the fourth quarter was seven points, when sophomore guard Jimmy Holman hit a 3-pointer with 5:27 left.

But Muchmore answered with his own 3-pointer and LaMore later hit his two back-breaking, fourth-quarter post baskets with 3:13 and 2:46 left to push the lead back to 12.

Holman led the Pioneers with 10 points and Jamie Henry added nine.

Dexter will play Pinckney in a district semifinal at Huron at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.