Twice this season, Kirkland’s cross-town rivalry has come down to the wire.

On Friday evening, the wire broke. The Lake Washington High boys basketball team put together a huge second quarter and rolled in the third, pulling away for a 76-53 victory over Juanita in the opener of the Class 3A KingCo tournament at Lake Washington High School.

Lake Washington (7-7 KingCo, 10-7) won both regular season match ups, and led 22-17 after the first quarter. The Kangs scored the first 11 of the second quarter and led 43-27 at halftime.

The short-handed Rebels lacked the firepower to battle back and faded as the second half wore on.

Lake Washington’s Beau Heimdahl led all scorers with 18 points, including a flurry in the second quarter. The Kangs hit nine 3-pointers in the game, including three from Jordan Richter and three from Dalton Liesse.

Juanita (5-9, 8-13) struggled from the free-throw line in the third period, hitting five of 12 attempts.

Rebel senior Ravi Regan-Hughes, who led Juanita with 16 points, scored only two points after halftime.

Lake Washington’s Griffin Barker and Sam Linsky both finished with 10 points.

It was the final game for Juanita seniors Shaynan Nathan and Regan-Hughes. Isaac Wunderlich, another senior, was injured and did not play.

The result sets up an intriguing rematch between Lake Washington and Mercer Island at 7:30 p.m. at Mercer Island High School. The Islanders finished as co-conference champions and nabbed the No. 1 seed, but lost both regular season games to Lake Washington.

Three of the remaining four teams — Mercer Island, Lake Washington, Redmond and Bellevue — advance to the Sea-King District Tournament. The finals and third-place game are scheduled for Feb. 8 at Newport High School in Bellevue.