BANGOR – All season, the Schenck High School boys basketball team was in position to win, but often let games slip away late.

The Wolverines showed Tuesday afternoon they’re learning how to win.

Schenck of East Millinocket held No. 3 Penquis of Milo to eight fourth-quarter points and made its foul shots down the stretch to post a 63-54 Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal victory at the Bangor Auditorium.

The 11th-seeded Wolverines (9-11) advance to Friday’s 2:05 p.m. semifinal against No. 2 Houlton (17-2), a 59-42 winner over No. 7 Dexter in Tuesday morning’s second game.

Of Schenck’s 11 losses, 10 were by six points or less and three were in overtime.

“We’ve been in all these ballgames and we just couldn’t capitalize at the end of the game,” said Schenck coach Steve LeVasseur. “We’re starting to come around.”

Schenck avenged two regular-season losses to Penquis with hard-nosed defense and unselfish offense. The Wolverines’ man-to-man kept Penquis from putting together any big runs in the second half.

The Wolverines made their move early in the second half. Aaron Waite hit a 3-pointer, then Brian Graham made a 17-footer to give them a five-point lead. Drew Hamlin answered for Penquis with a 3-pointer, but Andrew Van Ess countered with two baskets as Schenck made it 40-34 with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

Van Ess was a key for Schenck. He came in after Mark Hanington (21 points, 5 rebounds) picked up his third foul in the second quarter and chipped in with 10 big points.

Waite provided 11 points, while Thompson’s ballhandling and passing (7 assists) helped Schenck negotiate Penquis’ trapping defense.

Jordan Allen led the Patriots with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Justin Allen posted 11 points and seven rebounds, while Devin Perkins added 10 points.

In the other game, Houlton held Dexter scoreless for seven minutes in the second quarter and tallied 14 unanswered points to take charge at 32-14.

The Shiretowners weren’t sharp offensively, but held the Tigers (12-8) to 27 percent shooting and grabbed a 49-33 rebounding advantage. The pesky Tigers clawed their way within 10 points (45-35) on a Mike Martin 3-pointer with five minutes to play, but Houlton scored 14 of the next 17 points.

Mark Socoby twice handled a trap and found Danny Bartlett underneath for layups, while Dexter managed only a Jeremy Kenney free throw as the Shires made it 49-36.

Dustin Edwards paced the Shiretowners with 18 points and six rebounds, netting 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. Bartlett provided 15 points while Socoby, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, dominated the rebounding with 16, scored 13 points, handed out seven assists and blocked three shots.

“We didn’t play our ‘A’ game today,” Edwards said. “We were streaky. I think we could have done a little better, but we were up [emotionally] at the beginning, which gave us a lot of strength to come through.”

Dexter hung around because of its scrambling, trapping defense, but Houlton overcame it by putting the offense in Socoby’s capable hands.

“We knew that if they were going to triple-team and double-team the ball, we wanted Mark to have the ball,” said Houlton coach Sean Callahan. “He really made them pay when they started pressuring us with that little half-court trap.”

Martin led Dexter with 10 points and three steals, while Chris Rabideau contributed eight points and 10 rebounds.

SHIRETOWNERS 59, TIGERS 42

Dexter (12-8) Houlton (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

M. Martin 4 10 0 0 10 Edwards 6 15 18

Towle 3 6 0 0 7 Miles 3 5 7

Day 2 15 0 0 4 Hill 2 4 0 4

Murray 3 10 0 0 7 Bartlett 7 15

Rabideau 4 9 0 0 8 Socoby 3 11 10 13

Pullen 0 5 2 2 2 Miles 0 0 2

Bowers 0 2 2 4 2 O’Connell 0 0

Kenney 0 1 1 2 1 Anderson 0 0

Rush 0 0 1 2 1 Duff 0 0 0 0

R. Martin 0 2 0 0 0 Campbell 0 0

McCarthy 0 0 0 1 0 Lloyd 0 0 0

Bossie 0 0 0 0

Totals 16 60 6 11 42 Totals 21 47 14 24 59

Dexter 11 14 21 42

Houlton 16 32 36 59

3-pt. goals ? Dexter (4-21): M. Martin 2-5, Towle 1-1, Day 0-6, Murray 1-6, Bowers 0-1, R. Martin 0-2; Houlton (3-11): Edwards 2-7, O’Connell 0-1, Miles 0-1, Bartlett 1-1, Socoby 0-1

WOLVERINES 63, PATRIOTS 54

Schenck (9-11) Penquis (13-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hanington 8 12 5 12 21 Jo. Allen 6 12 8 9 20

Bishop 2 4 0 0 4 Young 1 5 3

Waite 5 11 0 0 11 Hamlin 2 5 5

T.Thompson 3 4 0 0 6 Ju. Allen 4 11

Graham 5 6 1 2 11 Perkins 4 9 10

Pelkey 0 3 0 0 0 Creighton 0 0

VanEss 4 6 2 2 10 Morrill 0 0 0

Jamo 0 0 0 0 0 Faulkinghm 0 1 0

Zwicker 2 4 0 5

Totals 27 46 8 16 63 Totals 19 45 14 18 54

Schenck 12 31 50 63

Penquis 14 31 46 54

3-pt. goals ? Schenck (1-3): Waite 1-2, Thompson 0-1; Penquis (2-11): Jo. Allen 0-4, Hamlin 1-3, Faulkingham 0-1, Zwicker 1-2, Perkins 0-1