BANGOR – The Houlton boys basketball team almost found out the hard way that if you let your opponent hang around too long, it will come back to hurt you.

The No. 4 Shiretowners were victimized by the 3-point shooting of No. 5 Orono, but the clutch defensive play and free-throw shooting of Drew Farrar in the final minutes spearheaded Houlton to a 59-56 Class C quarterfinal win at the Bangor Auditorium on Wednesday.

The Shires, now 12-7, will face No. 1 Calais in the semifinals, which cruised past eighth-ranked Penquis of Milo 63-36 in the second game of the morning doubleheader.

In the early game, Houlton led by as many as 12 in the third quarter.

That’s when the Riots refused to quit, going on a 12-2 run to close the period, cutting the deficit to two.

The main reason why Orono hit so many 3-pointers (9-16 from behind the arc overall) was because the Shires’ 2-3 zone wouldn’t allow the Riots any penetration inside.

“The rumor was that they didn’t shoot a lot of 3’s, so we packed it in,” said Houlton coach Mike Fogarty.

“That was our game plan,” Farrar added. “We just kept it inside, [and] they surprised us a little bit.”

The Riots tied the score at 48 with 3:08 to play, on two Seth Dwyer free throws, but Ryan Hill’s turnaround layup with 2:39 to play gave Houlton the lead for good.

Farrar was clutch down the stretch, hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:19 and coming up with two big steals on back-to-back Orono possessions with under a minute to play.

“Free throws, we work on those every single night,” Fogarty said. “They actually run [in practice] if they miss.”

Houlton converted on 21 out of 33 free throw attempts, including 11 of 14 in the fourth quarter.

Orono had a chance in the final seconds. Riemersma hit a 3 with seven seconds left to make the score 57-56, but the Riots could not foul to stop the clock, and Doug Hagerman’s layup as time expired sealed it for the Shires.

Farrar finished with 14 points and four steals while Josh Beals led all scorers with 20 for the Shires. James Bates chipped in with 11.

Dwyer totaled 17 points for Orono, which wraps up its season at 11-8.

In the late game, Calais looked fairly shaky early, leading by just 10-5 after the first quarter, but the defending state champs outscored Penquis 53-31 over the game’s final 24 minutes, including 39-22 in the second half.

The Devils had some trouble finding their offense early against the Patriots’ 2-3 zone, but Calais’ up-tempo attack eventually wore the Pats down.

“We just kept coming at them with more bodies and eventually wore them down a little bit,” said Blue Devils coach Ed Leeman.

Calais got some better looks in the second half, and turned defensive rebounds and turnovers into fast-break points, in addition to hitting outside jumpers.

“We pretty much knew they were going to come out in that 2-3 to start,” Leeman said. “Luckily we got a little bit of a lead.”

Brandon Tomah struggled to find his shooting touch, but the speedy 6-foot forward finished with a game-high 16 points. He also had four steals.

Robbie Rogers was a force inside for the Devils, grabbing eight rebounds to go with his 12 points.

Chris Taylor and Rob Tirrell chipped in with 10 apiece for Calais while Russell Berry led Penquis, which finishes 10-10, with 13.

BLUE DEVILS 63, PATRIOTS 36

Penquis (10-10) Calais (19-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Allen 3 15 2 4 8 Shorey 2 4 4

Brown 2 8 3 3 7 Cavangh 0 0 0

Bailey 0 2 0 0 0 Tomah 7 15 16

Foss 0 0 0 0 0 Carr 0 0 0 0

Leland 2 2 0 0 4 Rogers 4 8 12

Larson 1 1 0 0 2 Taylor 3 11 10

Zwicker 0 5 0 1 0 Bell 3 11 7

Stevens 0 4 0 0 0 O’Neill 1 2 2

Knapp 0 0 2 2 2 Stewart 0 0 0

Andrews 0 1 0 2 0 Leeman 0 3 0

Herbert 0 0 0 0 0 Francis 0 3 0

Berry 6 9 1 2 13 Tirrell 5 7 10

Ross 1 2 0 2

Totals 14 47 8 14 36 Totals 26 66 15 63

Penquis 5 14 26 36

Calais 10 24 45 63

3-pt. goals – Penquis (0-4): Allen 0-2, Bailey 0-1, Zwicker 0-1; Calais (3-14): Tomah 2-7, Rogers 1-2, Bell 0-1, Leeman 0-2, Francis 0-1, Tirrell 0-1

SHIRETOWNERS 59, RED RIOTS 56

Orono (11-8) Houlton (12-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Riemrsma 6 8 0 0 18 Brown 0 5 1

Spencer 2 3 0 0 4 Farrar 2 11 10 14 14

Bates 0 0 0 0 0 Bates 4 7 11

Nason 1 1 0 0 2 Hill 2 3 5

Bryant 3 7 3 3 9 Cleary 0 0 0

Dwyer 5 19 4 6 17 Beals 6 8 10 20

Tomer 2 4 2 2 6 Hagermn 4 7 8

Henigan 0 1 0 0 0

Keezer 0 0 0 0 0

Craig 0 1 0 1 0

Totals 19 44 9 12 56 Totals 18 41 21 33 59

Orono 16 21 42 56

Houlton 14 27 40 59

3-pt. goals – Orono (9-16): Riemersma 6-8, Dwyer 3-7, Bryant 0-1; Houlton (2-6): Bates 2-2, Brown 0-3, Farrar 0-1