BANGOR – After struggling to defeat the Dexter Tigers twice during the regular season, the Piscataquis Community Pirates headed into Tuesday night’s Class C quarterfinal with more trepidation than you might expect of a No. 1 seed facing a showdown with No. 9.

“It’s a tough draw for us,” PCHS coach Jamie Russell said after the game.

On paper, maybe. On the Bangor Auditorium floor, the undefeated Pirates of Guilford showed why they’ve won 19 straight games.

PCHS opened the fourth quarter with eight straight points that helped turn a 14-point game into what would become a 77-46 cruise into the semifinals.

The Pirates earned a date with either No. 4 Hodgdon or No. 5 Washington Academy at 8:35 p.m. on Friday in a Class C semifinal. Dexter finishes up 14-7.

The Pirates got a monster 36-point, 12-rebound, two-block performance out of 6-foot-6 senior Buddy Leavitt, a solid floor game out of junior point guard Kyle Pulkkinen and a stingy defensive effort from everyone who stepped on the floor in the win.

Russell said the fact that the Pirates have enjoyed some postseason success in soccer (EM champs) and reached the playoffs in baseball has buoyed the team’s spirits this winter and made them tough to beat.

“They’re just a quiet, confident group,” Russell said. “They’re not arrogant. They don’t have that swagger. But they’re very businesslike.”

And on Tuesday, Russell said the early offense of the speedy Pulkkinen (he scored eight of his nine points before intermission) helped get the Pirates off to a solid start.

“He hit some shots and opened things up for us, and [Randy] Burgess did a great job on [6-8 Dexter center Dustin] Paige,” Russell said.

Burgess helped negate a Dexter height advantage by helping to hold Paige to just four points. The Tiger junior battled foul trouble all night and fouled out with 5:56 to play.

Sophomore point guard Travis Patterson scored 16 points to pace the Tigers while Matt Foster pitched in with 14.

PCHS ran out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter and piled up a 37-20 advantage at the half before the Tigers began chipping into the deficit.

Dexter got back within 11 three times in the third quarter before PCHS finally put the game away.

Leavitt was the key, as he scored the final hoop of the third period and four straight points to kick off the fourth and jumpstart the crucial run.

He tallied 13 of his 36 in the fourth and accounted for nine of those from the free throw line.

Leavitt said the game was tougher than it seemed.

“We know what each other is going to do all the time,” Leavitt said. “It’s tough to get open when the team knows what you’re gonna do every time.”

PCHS was consistently able to get the ball down low throughout the game and parlayed that effort into a whopping 25-8 advantage on points scored from the free throw line.

PCHS tried 33 free throws to Dexter’s nine.

Leavitt said getting both Paige and 6-4 Ben Robinson in foul trouble (each had four fouls when the Pirates put the game away early in the fourth) was a key.

“They have two really good big guys,” Leavitt said. “We were looking to box out, get them [to go] over the back. … they’re a lot better team with them in there.”

Pirates 77, Tigers 46

Dexter boys (14-7) Piscataquis (19-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Russell 0 1 0 1 0 Hoffman 0 0 0

Patterson 6 11 4 4 16 White 1 2 3

Mountain 0 1 0 0 0 Pulkkinen 3 9

Cooley 1 4 2 2 4 DeCastro 1 4

Robichaud 0 0 0 0 0 Dawson 2 9 5

Hersey 0 2 0 0 0 Smith 1 6 6

Robinson 3 10 0 0 6 Martell 0 0 0

Clukey 1 3 0 0 2 Leavitt 10 18 13 15 36

Kenney 0 1 0 0 0 St. Louis 1 2

Vafides 0 0 0 0 0 Watson 1 1 2

Foster 6 9 2 2 14 Carson 0 2 2

Paige 2 4 0 0 4 Burgess 4 4 8

Martin 0 0 0 0 0 Tracy 0 1 0

Totals 19 46 8 9 46 24 53 25 33 77

Dexter 6 20 36 46

Piscataquis 17 37 50 77

3-pt. goals: Dexter (0-5): Patterson 0-1, Hersey 0-2, Foster 0-2; Piscataquis (4-6): Leavitt 3-4, DeCastro 1-1, Pulkkinen 0-1, Dawson 0-1