The Schenck High School Wolverines came out firing and there wasn’t much the valiant Washburn High School Beavers could do about it.

The top-seeded Wolverines shot 64.3 percent in the first quarter (9-for-14) in building a 23-6 lead and they never looked back in recording a 72-48 Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal victory at the Bangor Auditorium Monday night.

Schenck of East Millinocket, now 18-2, will take on No. 4 Lee Academy, 13-7, in Thursday’s 8:35 p.m. semifinal. Lee defeated No. 5 Limestone Community School/Maine Science of School and Mathematics 67-49 in the evening’s first game.

Washburn finished at 12-8.

“We did a good job pushing the ball and playing uptempo. That’s the way we like to play,” said senior forward Chris Byron, who was one of three Wolverines in double figures with 13 points.

“We dictated the pace pretty good,” concurred junior guard Mike Lowell, who had a game-high 18 points. “We pushed the ball the way we wanted to and we slowed it down and got it into the post when we wanted to.”

The fast and athletic Wolverines wound up shooting 53.2 percent from the floor.

“We ran into a buzzsaw,” said Washburn coach Chris Hallett. “They’re a really talented bunch. That’s the best team we’ve seen all year, no question.”

“They shot the lights out. There’s not much you can do to stop that,” added Washburn senior center Steve Pesut, who had 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Schenck broke the game open with a 15-2 spurt to close out the first quarter.

Lowell had five of the points and Byron had four more.

“Everyone on our team can shoot from the outside. We have a lot of weapons,” said Lowell. “Anybody can put up a lot of points on any given night.”

Adam Thompson’s 3-pointer capped a 6-2 spurt to close out the half and pull Washburn within 36-21.

But a 14-5 run by Schenck in the third period sewed it up.

Kerry Thompson was the other Wolverine in double figures with 16 points. James Graham had eight off the bench and Nate Lewis had six points and a team-high six rebounds.

Nick McIntosh’s 13 points and three steals and Alex Morrow’s 11 points complemented Pesut’s 12 points.

The winners of Thursday’s semifinal round advance to Saturday’s championship at approximately 8:45 p.m. Thursday’s other semifinal features No. 3 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill against No. 2 Deer Isle-Stonington.

WOLVERINES 72, BEAVERS 48

Washburn (12-8) Schenck (18-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

N. McIn’sh 5 8 2 2 13 McLag’lin 1 2

Connolly 1 3 2 4 5 Lowell 5 11 19

A. Tho’sn 2 13 2 2 7 K. Tho’sn 6 16

Pesut 6 9 0 1 12 Byron 4 7 13

Morrow 5 10 1 2 11 L. Tho’sn 2 5

A. McIn’sh 0 1 0 0 0 Hutchins 1 3

Campbell 0 0 0 0 0 Graham 3 4 8

Holland 0 0 0 0 0 Lewis 3 6 6

Wilcox 0 1 0 0 0 Deveau 0 1 0

Frank 0 0 0 0 0 LeVas’ur 0 0

Reed 0 0 0 0 0 Waite 0 1 0 McCaf’ty 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 45 7 11 48 Totals 25 47 15 23 72

Washburn 6 21 32 48

Schenck 23 36 57 72

3-pt. goals – (Washburn 3-10): Connolly 1-2, A. Thompson 1-6, N. McIntosh 1-2; (Schenck 7-12): Lowell 3-4, K. Thompson 2-3, Graham 2-2, Byron 0-1, Hutchins 0-1, Deveau 0-1