BANGOR – Parker Brown set a tone of aggression for the Houlton boys basketball team Tuesday night, and teammate James Bates sparked a defensive effort that lifted the fifth-ranked Shiretowners to a 55-38 victory over No. 4 Orono in an Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

Houlton will play the winner of Tuesday night’s game between No. 1 Calais and No. 9 Dexter in Friday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal.

This marked the second straight year Houlton defeated the Red Riots in a regional quarterfinal, but unlike last year’s 59-56 victory, the rematch was all Shiretowners.

Brown, a 5-foot-7 senior point guard, attacked the basket early, setting up teammates and even grabbing offensive rebounds as Houlton outscored Orono 16-8 in the first quarter.

That aggression rubbed off on his teammates, who outrebounded the Red Riots 11-5 in the period and 29-21 for the game.

“Parker’s a general out there, he runs our offense,” said Houlton coach Mike Fogarty. “We worked all week on the over-aggressiveness of Orono and saying that we needed to attack it. He’s quick enough and a good enough ballhandler to do it, and he looks to score and also can dish it very well.”

While Brown – who scored nine of his 13 points in the first half as the Shiretowners built a 26-17 lead – sparked the early offense, Bates focused his defensive attention on Orono 1,000-point scorer Seth Dwyer.

Dwyer finished with 16 points, but just seven came during the first three periods when the game was relatively close, and four of those points came after offensive rebounds.

“I just played straight up and defended the pass whenever he didn’t have the ball so he didn’t get the pass,” said Bates, a 6-foot junior forward. “If he got by me, I knew my ‘D’ would back me up.”

Houlton broke the game open by limiting Orono to one field goal during a 10-minute span that ended midway through the fourth quarter with the Shiretowners holding a 44-25 lead.

Houlton outscored the Red Riots 14-3 during that run, with senior forward Abe Carmichael going inside to convert a three-point play and a follow-up shot while senior forward Ryan Hill added a mid-range jumper and a fast-break layup.

“We knew we had to stop them on defense, and then our offense would come along,” said Brown. “They’re a physical team that gets right in your shorts, so we knew we had to go by them and then dish or pull up.”

Orono (12-7) shot 35 percent (15 of 42) from the field overall, and just 1 of 11 from beyond the 3-point arc. J Spencer added 12 points for the Red Riots.

“They came out right in man to man and put it to us from the start,” said Orono coach Ben Goodwin. “They were up denying the ball, they had a hand up on every shot. They came up with the loose balls when it was time and the rebounds when it was time. They really wanted to win this game and did a great job of executing.”

Houlton shot 50 percent (21 of 42 percent) from the field, with Hill adding 13 points while Carmichael had 11 points and seven rebounds and senior center Josh Beals contributed nine points and six rebounds.

“We were able to get the ball inside a little more than we have historically,” said Fogarty. “We’ve been settling for outside jumpers, but early on tonight we got the ball inside to establish our presence.”

SHIRETOWNERS 55, RED RIOTS 38

Houlton (10-9) Orono (12-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Brown 4 7 5 7 13 Coleman 0 0 0

Bragan 0 0 0 0 0 Riersma 0 6 1

Austin 0 1 0 0 0 Spencer 5 8 12

Longstaff 0 0 0 0 0 Bates 1 4 2

Bates 3 7 1 1 7 Nason 0 2 0

Hill 5 13 2 3 13 Patterson 1 1 2

Woodworth 0 1 0 0 0 Dwyer 7 17 16

Beals 3 5 3 4 9 Talty 0 0 1

Carmichel 5 6 1 1 11 LeVasseur 0 0

Flewelling 0 0 0 0 0 Haamid 0 0 0

Gervais 0 0 0 0 0 Hecker 1 2 4

McGuire 1 2 0 3 2 Leek 0 0 0

Totals 21 42 12 19 55 Totals 15 42 14 38

Houlton 16 26 37 55

Orono 8 17 23 38

3-pt. goals – Houlton (1-5): Hill 1-4, Bates 0-1; Orono (1-11): Dwyer 1-6, Riemersma 0-5