BANGOR – Saturday wasn’t a good day to be a higher-seeded boys basketball team at the Eastern Maine Class B tournament quarterfinals.

Just hours after No. 7 Hermon took No. 2 Ellsworth to the brink in triple overtime, No. 5 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln actually pushed No. 4 Caribou over it, but that was only the start of things.

Right after MA’s Lynx eliminated Caribou 53-43, No. 8 Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield pulled off the shocker of the entire tournament by sending top seed Maranacook of Readfield home via a 58-50 win.

The 16-4 Lynx and 15-5 Huskies return to the Bangor Auditorium to meet in an 8:35 p.m. semifinal Wednesday. Maranacook finished 16-3, while Caribou wound up 11-8.

In the second afternoon game, all eyes were on Maranacook’s Ryan Martin, one of the state’s top players. The junior guard didn’t disappoint as he scored a game-high 28 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome MCI’s solid, well-rounded effort.

“I think this is the first time this year we’ve put the whole thing together in terms of handling the ball, playing good perimeter defense, and our inside game,” said MCI coach Mike Brown, whose Huskies lost both regular-season games to the Black Bears.

The Huskies held a 37-30 rebounding edge, but it was their shooting and defensive intensity that made the biggest difference.

“Our shots were not coming as easily,” Bears coach Rob Quint said. “They were all over Ryan, especially as soon as he came into the paint.”

“Whoever played him just tried to deny him the ball at all times,” said MCI guard Patrick McGrady. “Coach just said to give it all we had whenever we were on Martin and when we got tired, he’d switch it up.”

It didn’t help that Maranacook was without starter Will Bardaglio, a 6-foot-3 junior averaging 15 points a game. The sharpshooting guard was out with mononucleosis.

Maranacook hit just two of nine shots in the first quarter while MCI shot 5-for-14 to open up leads of 13-2 and 19-4 in the first 10 minutes.

A balanced scoring attack left MCI up 28-16 at halftime, but the Bears stormed out to score nine of the first 11 points in the second half to creep within five points (30-25) midway through the third. That’s when MCI got its defense and transition game revved up as Troy Murray (12 points) and McGrady (20 points, seven rebounds) scored seven straight to blunt the charge.

The Bears would again rally with an 11-4 run led by Martin, who scored six in the span, but again, MCI had an answer. This time it was senior forward Benson Mensah-Bonsu (16 points, 10 rebounds) and McGrady who teamed up via defensive pressure, the transition game, and inside scoring for six of the next eight points.

“I really thought we’d come back, but they had an answer for it every time,” Rob Quint said.

MCI’s Victor Quint, who missed the season’s first seven games to shoulder surgery, looked strong with eight points and 10 boards.

Mike Poulin had eight points, five rebounds, and three assists for the Bears.

The first game may as well have been the Derek Libbey show as the junior guard scored 14 of MA’s first 19 points en route to 33. Libbey, and solid inside play that gave MA an 18-shot advantage at the foul line, helped the Lynx pull away from Caribou in the final quarter.

“We knew we were going to have to defend him and if he had a big night, we were going to be in trouble,” said Vikings coach Chris Casavant. “I thought we defended him pretty well, getting a hand in his face a lot of times, but he made a lot of tough shots.”

Libbey hit 11 of 24 shots and also grabbed seven rebounds.

“It’s always nice to get a few easy ones at first because then your shot comes more natural to you,” Libbey said.

The Lynx led by just a point going into the fourth quarter, but Libbey scored eight points in a 12-2 run to give MA control of the game for good.

“Our familiarity goes both ways for us,” said MA coach Rick Sinclair, whose team split two regular-season games with Caribou. “So it comes down to who makes shots, and when all else fails, we have Libbey, and when we need a shot, he’s got the ability to make one.”

Kyle Corrigan led Caribou with 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Ben Rosser had 12 points and six boards.

LYNX 53, VIKINGS 43

Mattanawcook (16-4) Caribou (11-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gardner 3 5 1 2 7 Corrigan 5 16 0 0 13

Libbey 11 24 7 10 33 J.Haines 2 5

Vose 1 4 4 6 6 Fitzherbrt 4 6 9

Smith 0 2 0 0 0 Rosser 6 8 12

White 1 3 1 2 3 Rossignol 2 4

Young 2 4 0 0 4 Brown 0 1 0

Langevin 0 0 0 0 0 D.Haines 0 0

Totals 18 42 13 20 53 Totals 19 44 43

Mattanawcook 13 23 35 53

Caribou 11 23 36 43

3-pt. goals – Mattanawcook (4-11): Libbey 4-9, Gardner 0-1, Vose 0-1; Caribou (4-13): Corrigan 3-8, J. Haines 1-2, Rossignol 0-3

HUSKIES 58, BLACK BEARS 50

MCI (15-5) Maranacook (16-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Nichols 1 6 0 0 2 Poulin 3 6 8

Murray 5 12 2 4 12 Martin 9 23 28

Jones 0 1 0 0 0 Denbow 2 4 7

Mns-Bnsu 6 12 4 6 16 HddWells 0 0 0

McGrady 3 8 14 17 20 Gerrity 2 7 5

Quint 3 6 2 4 8 Leary 1 10 2

Sidelinger 0 3 0 0 0 Gilman 0 2 0

Morton 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 48 22 31 58 Totals 17 52 14 17 50

MCI 13 28 37 58

Maranacook 4 16 29 50

3-pt. goals – MCI (0-4): Nichols 0-1, McGrady 0-3; Maranacook (2-12): Gerrity 1-2, Martin 1-6, Poulin 0-1, Leary 0-3