BANGOR – Defense comes first as far as the Penquis boys basketball team is concerned. And after taking the first quarter to shake off an 18-day layoff, the Patriots finally shook off a determined Hodgdon team Tuesday night in the second half of their Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal game at Bangor Auditorium.

The top-seeded Patriots of Milo had a 27-26 lead at the half but then turned up the defense a couple of notches in the second half en route to the 67-56 win over the eighth-seeded Hawks.

The 17-2 Patriots will meet the winner of Wednesday morning’s quarterfinal matchup between Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Dexter Friday night at 8:35.

Penquis sophomore point guard Jordan Allen was the leader offensively, scoring 22 points, 12 coming in the second half.

“Our defense picked up in the second half. That really helped us out. Once we started getting the turnovers, it boosted our momentum and we took off,” Allen said.

Ah yes, turnovers.

Midway through the third quarter with the Patriots leading by five, Penquis forced turnovers on three straight Hodgdon possessions. On each occasion the Patriots turned the miscue into baskets.

Penquis coach Tony Hamlin said his team wasn’t doing anything different in the second half, they simply kept up the pressure.

“I think they just got tired. When you’re in the passing lanes and they burn their dribble and you shut the passing lanes down. That’s OK for the first 12, 16, 18 minutes,” Hamlin said. “But the last 10, 12 those are turnovers. They wouldn’t have been turnovers in the first four minutes of the game.”

The Patriots quickly opened the lead up to 15 points and with the 13-7 Hawks in a chase and foul mode, spent much of the fourth quarter at the foul line.

Penquis also had a balanced scoring attack. Although none of the starters are taller than 6-foot-1, they attacked the basket and kicked the ball out to Allen and senior Dustin Perkins who connected on two 3-pointers apiece.

Perkins finished with 10 points, while his brother, sophomore Devon Perkins had 13.

Senior Steven Kissell shot well, hitting on 6 of 8 from the floor, including his only 3-point attempt.

Hawks coach Rob Moran said his team had trouble finding its rhythm offensively.

“They took us out of what we wanted to do offensively. It’s hard to look good against a team that plays that good a defense,” Moran said.

Jeff Condon led the Hawks. The 5-6 junior nailed 4-of-7 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.

Senior Ken Prescott had 11 and junior Jimmy Griffin had 10 points.

PATRIOTS 67, HAWKS 56

Hodgdon (13-7) Penquis (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Quint 0 0 0 0 0 Jo. Allen 7 12 6 9 22

Hogan 0 1 0 0 0 Chase 1 3 2

Currie 1 1 0 0 2 De. Perkins 5 13

Schools 0 0 0 0 0 Turgeon 0 0 0

Condon 5 10 0 1 14 Ju. Allen 0 2

Hovey 2 6 0 0 5 Kissell 6 8 17

Sanford 3 3 2 4 8 Batchelder 0 0

Griffin 4 7 2 3 10 Gerrish 0 0 0

Nickerson 2 9 2 2 6 Andrews 0 0 0

Ledger 0 0 0 0 0 Du. Perkins 4 10 0 0 10

Prescott 5 9 1 3 11 Hamlin 0 0 1

McKenzie 0 2 0

22 46 7 13 56 23 44 16 25 67

Hodgdon 12 26 40 67

Penquis 15 27 47 67

3-pt. goals ? Hodgdon (5-11): Condon 4-7, Hovey 1-3, Nickerson 0-1; Penquis (5-11): Jo. Allen 2-5, Perkins 2-4, Kissell 1-1, Chase 0-1