Seizing a nine-point halftime lead, while limiting Simsbury to 10 first-half points, Greenwich’s boys basketball team began its opening-round game of the CIAC Division II Tournament in impressive fashion Monday night.

Things kept getting better in the third quarter for the 18th-seeded Cardinals, who extended their lead on their way to recording a 43-34 win over 15th-seeded Simsbury.

Greenwich advanced to the Round of 16 of the Division II Tournament, where it will visit second-seeded Northwest Catholic tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.

“It was a good win,” Greenwich coach Todd Trimmer said. “We knew all year long they play very good defense, they try to slow the game down. They are comfortable with games in the high 20s and 30s. They’re a veteran team, so we were conscious of that. We executed really well and played good defense.”

Junior guard Logan Galletta scored 10 points, senior backcourt mate James Pilc had nine points, sophomore guard Aidan Karson added nine points and junior guard Dean Brown totaled seven points for the Cardinals (13-9).

Visiting Greenwich held a 19-10 halftime lead, before taking a 34-19 advantage into the fourth quarter. Strong defensive play helped the Cards play from in front throughout.

“We played man-to-man defense the whole night,” Trimmer said. “They slowed the pace of the game down, but when they had those possessions, we were getting stops.”

Simsbury (14-7) cut into Greenwich’s lead in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals made key plays down the stretch for the win.

“They went into a 1-3-1 press and we turned the ball over, we didn’t make it easy on ourselves,” Trimmer said. “But we knocked down some shots and made some free throws.”

Barber, Galletta and Pilc made sure the Cardinals moved on to the next round of the tourney.

“Chason Barber, defensively, had probably had seven or eight blocked shots and he had protected the rim the entire time,” Trimmer said. “Logan played a great game at point guard. He was very under control the entire time and James Pilc was 7 for 8 in free throws.”