There was plenty of temptation to look ahead to Friday for the Skyline boys basketball team on Tuesday.

But the Eagles weren't overlooking anybody Tuesday night.

The Eagles went up by double digits early in the first quarter and never let down in a 65-45 win over Dexter at home Tuesday.

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“It felt like we gave a solid effort pretty much from start to finish,” Skyline coach Mike Lovelace said. “I can’t really think of any lapses that we went through. It was solid defense, quality offense. Things were clicking really well tonight.”

The win allows Skyline to move on to a Friday game at Temperance Bedford. That game is followed by matchups against Huron and Pioneer that will determine the Eagles’ fate in the Southeastern Conference Red division.

On Tuesday, Skyline (8-7, 5-3 SEC White) made its first four shots, three of them 3-pointers, to go up 11-2 early. Two of those were made by Peter Bakker-Arkema, who finished with a game-high 16 points.

“It definitely helps,” Bakker-Arkema said of making early shots. “They were finding me early, Isaac (Lockhart) especially was really looking for me. Especially when they’re pressuring you, it really helps to have all the guys on your team looking for you. That got me in the groove early.”

The Eagles went into the second quarter up by 10, before rattling off seven points in less than two minutes while holding Dexter (7-8, 4-4 SEC Red) scoreless.

Lovelace said he was worried the quick start would lead to a letdown. But his team proved consistently throughout, scoring between 15 and 17 points in each quarter and never allowing a Dexter comeback.

“You can get out to almost too big of a lead and get into some lapses, but we were able to show the maturity and keep trying to focus on winning the next few minutes,” Lovelace said.

Forward Tristan Wilson also finished in double figures for Skyline, with 12, while Jack Clark had nine. In all, 10 players scored for Skyline.

Derek Seidl led Dexter with nine points.

Skyline, which held a significant size advantage, won the rebounding battle by a large margin. And defensively, it used ball pressure to disrupt the guard-heavy Dexter offense.

“Overall we played real hard, were disciplined, not going for too much, staying in position and not letting them run their offense,” Lovelace said.

The win allows Skyline to move on to focus on its next three games, which are against the three teams above it in the SEC Red standings.

First on that list is a Friday trip to Bedford, and the rematch of a game where the Kicking Mules’ Jackson Lamb hit a 3 with 1.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Bedford, unbeaten in the SEC Red at 8-0, went on to win, 60-51.

The game is one of several between the two that’s come down to the end recently, and that’s led to a rivalry of sorts.

“It’s kind of weird, Pioneer and Huron are our local rivals, but there’s something between us and Bedford,” Bakker-Arkema said. “We can’t wait to play them.”

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kyleaustin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2535. Follow him on Twitter @KAustin_AA.