The words that first come to mind are “tenacious” and “swarming.”

The top-seeded Jonesport-Beals High School Royals forced numerous turnovers with their smothering full-court man-to-man press and attacked the boards at both ends of the floor en route to an 84-68 win over Washburn in their Eastern Maine Class D schoolboy basketball quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium on Tuesday.

Jonesport-Beals, now 16-3, will play the winner of Wednesday’s 11:05 a.m. game between No. 4 Woodland, 9-9, and No. 5 Wisdom of St. Agatha, 10-6, in Friday’s 3:35 p.m. semifinal.

“We played well in the first half,” said J-B Coach Ordie Alley, whose Royals took a 39-17 edge into the intermission and led by at least 16 the rest of the way. “We were very aggressive and I was very pleased with our defense in the first half. I like to see a lot of white jerseys on the floor chasing the ball.”

The Royals broke the game open with a 29-11 spurt in the first half that gave them their 22-point halftime lead.

Jonesport-Beals might have led by even more if it wasn’t for its 17-for-44 shooting (38.6 percent) in the first half. The Royals’ defensive pressure and rebounding resulted in them getting 18 more field goal attempts than Washburn, which was limited to 7-for-26 shooting from the floor (26.9 percent) in the first 16 minutes.

J-B manufactured a bunch of second-chance points with its rebounding. The Royals outrebounded Washburn 22-14 in the first half, including a 12-4 edge in offensive rebounds.

Washburn didn’t get its first offensive rebound until the 5:47 mark of the second period.

“We’ve got some good leapers, and the way we run our offense, we’re supposed to have three kids (offensive) rebounding all the time, although it doesn’t always work that way,” said Alley.

Senior guard Jason Harmon had 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to spark the Royals.

“That’s the best game he’s played all year,” said Alley. “He deserved this.”

Harmon agreed with his coach.

“The 24 points is the most I think I’ve ever scored,” said Harmon, who also had game-highs for assists and steals with six apiece.

The Royals made 15 steals in the game.

Junior forward Chris Crowley came off the bench to score 11 first-half points. He finished with 15.

Mike King finished with 19 points and Tony Beal scored 13. Tony Beal grabbed nine rebounds, Braden Alley pulled down eight, and Crowley wound up with seven.

“We’ve had games in which we’ve shot better, but we played well defensively and that’s what won it for us,” said King.

Matt Harris and Todd Laferriere had 13 points apiece for 8-11 Washburn and Chris Hallett scored 11 more. Laferriere had nine rebounds and Hallett grabbed eight more. Shawn Cunningham had four assists to go with his nine points.

Royals 84, Beavers 68

Jonesport-Beals boys Washburn

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Jas.Harm’n 16 9 6 4 24 Harris 16 6 1 0 13

Look 3 1 0 0 2 Cunn’gham 10 4 4 0 9

T. Beal 12 4 6 5 13 Laferriere 15 5 0 0 13

B. Alley 9 1 1 0 2 Bragg 7 2 2 0 4

King 19 7 6 5 19 Hallett 13 5 3 1 11

J’m.Harm’n 5 2 0 0 4 Brown 5 2 2 2 7

C. Crowley 9 6 6 3 15 McPherson 0 0 0 0 0

Peabody 0 0 0 0 0 Cray 2 2 2 0 4

R. Crowley 2 1 0 0 2 Garvin 1 0 0 0 0

Johnson 1 0 2 1 1 Hodde 5 3 0 0 7

S. Beal 0 0 0 0 0 Sperry 0 0 0 0 0

Fagonde 1 1 0 0 2 Skidgel 0 0 0 0 0

D. Alley 0 0 0 0 0

Bean 0 0 2 0 0

Totals 77 32 29 18 84 Totals 74 29 14 3 68

Jonesport-Beals 16 39 61 84

Washburn 6 17 39 68

3-pt. goals: Jonesport-Beals (2-10): Jason Harmon 2-4; B. Alley 0-3; James Harmon 0-1; King 0-1; R. Crowley 0-1; Washburn (7-16): Laferriere 3-6; Hodde 1-1; Cunningham 1-2; Brown 1-3; Harris 1-3; Hallett 0-1