KANSAS CITY — Even in a blowout, Central’s balance continued to shine.

Seven Indians scored at least six points Tuesday in a 71-35 win against overmatched Staley in the Class 5 District 15 semifinals at Park Hill High School. Central never trailed and a late scoring binge that resembled a layup line helped start the running clock in the fourth quarter.

“We’re playing as a team and winning games,” said Central Dre Irvin, who led all scorers with 18 points. “It just feels really good to just blow teams out like that, running clock, having a good time on the bench. Everybody’s laughing, ready for a big game on Thursday.”

Central improved to 20-5 and advanced to Thursday’s title game against host Park Hill.

Four days earlier, Central won the Suburban League Big 6 title with a win against North Kansas City coupled with Lee’s Summit West’s second loss of the year to Ruskin — the first for Central in nearly 20 years. The victory against Staley marked more history, giving the Indians at least 20 wins in a season for only the third time in nearly 40 years (1976, 2006, 2012).

Central can capture its first district title since 2005 with one more win, which would also surpass the 2006 team’s win total.

Upset-minded Park Hill enters off of Tuesday’s semifinal win against second-seeded, intra-district rival Park Hill South in front of a boisterous crowd. The Indians beat Park Hill in each of their first two meetings this year but won by only seven in their most recent matchup at Central High School.

“We’ll take the crowd out of it, don’t pay attention to them, and we’ll be pretty good,” Irvin said.

Central took Staley out of Tuesday’s final from the outset.

The Falcons committed 17 turnovers in the first half, five before tallying their first point with two free throws from Bryan Young 3 minutes, 47 seconds into the first quarter. Despite the early miscues from its opponent, Central struggled to pull away early.

The Indians committed five turnovers of their own in the first quarter and missed five free throws in the first half, including two front ends of one-and-one situations.

While the defense sped Staley up to out-of-control levels, Central’s offense at times played too fast as well.

“That first game is always one in a district tournament where you want to make sure you come out and play with a lot of intensity,” Central coach Neal Hook said. “We did that. Some good things happened. We were able to create some steals and get some transition points. That set the tone for us a little bit, and then we were able to calm down and play our game.”

Shun Williams’ free-throw line jumper early in the second gave Central a double-digit lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The junior forward and Irvin combined for 14 in a 24-point second quarter that expanded a five-point lead after one quarter to 35-18 at halftime.

Central ripped off a quick 8-0 run at the midway point of the second quarter behind Irvin and Williams.

Irvin drilled a 3 from the left corner to make it 28-13, and Staley’s next possession featured an authoritative block from Williams behind the arc and then one of the 17 turnovers. The miscue led to a runout layup for Irvin. The lead grew to as big as 20.

Williams finished with only seven points but grabbed nine rebounds before picking up his third foul early in the third quarter and going to the bench for the remainder with the result in hand.

Central senior Cordell Bell continued his recent run with 13 points off the bench, while Elijah Lee poured in eight of his 10 points after halftime to go with 10 rebounds. Backup guard Derek Gray had nine, including a pair of layups during a 10-2 fourth-quarter fun that pushed Central’s lead to more than 30 points and started the running clock.

“That’s just the way the team is made up. They’re pretty unselfish,” Hook said. “We just try to get it to the guy that’s open. I thought we’ve done a pretty good job of that. If we continue to do that, I think our offense will continue to stay balanced.

Central starting guards Darrin Dudley and Brad Schlange tallied six points apiece to round out the balanced scoring effort.

In all, eight of the nine Indians to see the floor scored, and six players grabbed at least four rebounds as Staley resorted to sporadic 3-point shooting in an attempt to make up the burgeoning deficit. Trevor Lamb led the Falcons with nine points on three treys, accounting for half of Staley’s makes from beyond the arc.

Central relaxed late with the reserves mopping up the finish, relishing a season with as many wins as the previous two seasons combined.

“We like winning games for sure,” Irvin said.

Ross Martin can be reached at ross.martin@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SJNPSports.