BRISTOL — When they got together the first time this season, the Falcons turned the ball over 26 times and shot a dismal 28 percent from the floor as they handed the Indians a 57-52 victory.

Fast forward 39 days to Tuesday, and a lot has changed for St. Paul since that Dec. 18th meeting in Watertown.

The Falcons reduced that turnover total by 14 while forcing the Indians into the ones making mistake-after-mistake with the ball. Watertown coughed it up 24 times on Tuesday.

St. Paul increased their shooting percentage from that first meeting, played with more poise and, unlike the first go-round, didn’t hit the panic button when things weren’t going its way.

It all translated into a 60-51 win for the Falcons in round No. 2.

“I think we picked up a quality win against a quality team tonight,” St. Paul coach Steve Phelps said.

The contest didn’t start off well for the Falcons however.

St. Paul began the game 0-of-10 from the field, allowing the Indians to storm out to a 10-2 advantage. The two St. Paul points came from the free throw line as Josh Davidson put an end to an 8-0 Watertown run to begin the game.

The first Falcon basket finally came with just over two minutes showing on the first-period clock thanks to a Chris Borea 3-pointer.

The 3-point line turned out to be big for the Falcons. St. Paul outscored the Indians 24-6 from behind the arc.

But early on the Indians’ play in the post was enough to keep them out in front, despite turning the ball over 17 times in the opening 16 minutes of the game. Twenty of Watertown’s 26 first half points were scored in the paint. Center Zach Buesser was responsible for half of the Indians’ output in the stanza.

But it was one of the Falcons few scores down low that turned out to be the biggest hoop of the half.

With just 1 second to play before the break, on an inbound play, Borea sent a perfect pass to the fingertips of Byron Jones. The senior forward did the rest, tapping the ball in just before the buzzer sounded to cut the Watertown lead to three, 26-23.

More importantly, after a rather woeful first half that saw St. Paul go just 8-of-34 from the field, it provided the Falcons some life.

“It gave us some momentum. I know that our guys were jacked as they came into the locker room after that play,” Phelps said. “It was a tremendous way to end the half.”

That momentum stayed with the Falcons in the third.

St. Paul hit three of its first four shots of the quarter in which the second of two David Shaw 3-pointers in the stretch provided the Falcons with their first lead of the game, 31-30.

After the Indians came back to take a 38-37 advantage with just over a minute remaining in the frame, Shaw connected once again from deep to put St. Paul back in front — this time for good.

Shaw hit five 3-pointers in the game.

“Shaw was special at times tonight,” Phelps said. “He’s only 11 games into his varsity career, so he’s still a work in progress. But he has a nice touch and has the ability to be special.”

Shaw finished with a team-high 16 points.

Phelps got production from everyone he put in the game in the second half, no matter how long they were out there. That included a big rebound from Dan Borea in traffic and two key free throws to help swing the game in his club’s favor.

It was Dan Borea’s first action in over two games.

“Dan was huge,” Phelps said. “Those couple minutes he played were big. He had a big impact on this game.”

The Falcons outscored the Indians by nine in the third quarter to turn the three-point halftime deficit into a six-point advantage heading into the final eight minutes.

On the strength of a 4-for-4 stretch from the line by Justin Gonzalez over the final 20 seconds, the St. Paul lead hit as many as 10 in the quarter.

With a 14 point, 10 rebound performance, Jones recorded his fourth straight double-double Tuesday night. Chris Borea finished with seven assists to go along with his 15 points to help St. Paul avenge the early-season loss to the Indians.

“I think our memories being sharp on what happened the first time we played served us well tonight,” the Falcon skipper added.

Buesser led Watertown with a game-high 20 points. Fellow big man Tom O’Brien joined him in double figures with 12.

Thirty-four of the Indians 51 points on the night were scored in the paint.

The win improved St. Paul to 7-4 overall and 6-1 within the Brass Division. Watertown fell to 4-8 on the year and 3-4 in the division with the loss.