The defense never rests.

At least that’s the way the Branson School boys basketball team prepares for each game.

Branson limited visiting Piedmont to fewer than double figures in scoring for three consecutive quarters Tuesday night and ran off with a 61-40 victory at the College of Marin court in the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division III playoffs.

The top-seeded Bulls (26-3) seek their second consecutive NCS title when they host No. 2 Pinole Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Dominican University.

“We knew we had to get stops on defense early against this team,” Branson’s sophomore scoring machine Semetri Carr said.

Branson built a defensive brick wall in the infancy of the first quarter, holding the Highlanders and their prolific scorer AJ Harris to a single field goal through the first five minutes.

At the other end of the floor, Branson — and especially Carr — took care of business. The Bulls went up by 11 midway through the second quarter when senior post George Gale elevated through the lane and knocked down a shot off the glass on a perfect feed from Jase Butler.

In the meantime, Piedmont could not find a hot hand. Even Harris, who led all scorers with 28 points, was shut down to a degree, scoring only two field goals in the second quarter.

“Jase pretty much shut down (Harris) in the first half and the rest of our team was ready with weak-side help,” Carr said. “But it all started with great pressure by Jase.”

Still, persistent Piedmont crept to within eight points late in the second quarter.

But then the Bulls started the Carr.

Carr swooped to the hoop and knocked one in off the glass. He canned a corner 3-point shot off an inbound pass and followed that up with another three-pointer from deep. Carr finished a flurry of 10 points in two minutes with a pull-up jumper at the buzzer.

“In the second quarter, I started to feel it,” Carr said. “And once you get one three to go, the basket kind of opens up after that.”

Carr scored 18 of his team-high 21 points in the first half as the Bulls pulled away 35-17 at halftime.

“(Carr) came out on fire,” Branson coach Steve Johnson said. “We keep telling him don’t wait (to shoot the ball) and he didn’t wait tonight.”

But there was more to Branson’s dominating first half than just Butler defense and Carr offense. Gale was a tower on the boards, pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds, and a stopper around the basket. He blocked four shots.

“We always rely on George to be there at the basket,” Carr said. “He’s super long. We couldn’t do it without his rebounds and defense.”

Johnson was quick to praise his big man.

“George’s leadership on this team is irreplaceable,” Johnson said. “He finds a way to be dominant, an impact player, just playing defense and rebounding.”

Piedmont couldn’t recover from Carr’s eruption to the end the half, never cutting Branson’s lead to less than 15 points the rest of the way.

Butler, who added 15 points and five assists to his defensive gem, and Gale, were not the only defensive stars for the Bulls. Starting forward Finley Keeffe, who is sometimes overlooked, blocked four shots.

“Today we were good,” Johnson said. “The guys paid attention at practice and were locked in preparing for this game.”