BANGOR – The Central Aroostook of Mars Hill and Schenck of East Millinocket boys basketball teams came out firing during the third quarter to pull away for respective Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal wins Saturday night at the Bangor Auditorium.

The No. 6 Panthers, the defending state champs, outscored No. 3 Bangor Christian 23-9 in the third period en route to a 66-51 victory in the early game.

Second-seeded Schenck used a 21-8 burst to pull away from a stubborn seventh-ranked Van Buren team 73-47 in the nightcap.

Schenck and CAHS will battle in a Thursday semifinal at 2:05 p.m.

In the early game, defense was the key for Central Aroostook, as it held Patriots sharpshooter Brock Bradford to only 14 points on 4-of-17 shooting from the field.

“It was a difficult game for Brock. He had a tough night, but that’s not taking anything away from Central Aroostook because they made it a tough night,” Bangor Christian coach Charlie Colson said.

Central Aroostook improved to 19-1 while Bangor Christian wound up its season at 14-6.

The Panthers were led by 6-foot junior forward Tim Carlson, who scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter.

Central Aroostook, which trailed by two at halftime, came out with a man-to-man full-court press that led to BC turnovers and layups for the Panthers.

“We started to get some good screens on offense and the kids really started moving the basketball and attacking the rim,” Central Aroostook coach Tim Brewer said. “I don’t think we attacked the rim in the first half like we wanted to.”

Senior guard Andrew York got the run started with a baseline layup to tie the score at 30, then Carlson’s pullup jumper from 15 feet gave the Panthers the lead for good.

“We feed off of our defense a lot of the time, so we try to get a lot of layups,” Carlson said.

Carlson’s two free throws with six seconds left in the quarter capped the run. Andrew York finished with 12 points while Taylor McLaughlin and Cameron York added eight apiece and Sam Clockedile and Eric Martinez had seven each.

Colson noted Bradford’s shooting woes had nothing to do with the outcome as the Panthers were too much.

“That’s a very good basketball team over there in that other locker room,” he said. “But I have to say I’m very proud of my kids. There’s not a quitter in that locker room.”

Josh Frost netted 13 points and Matt Smith 10 for the Pats.

In the nightcap, Schenck went into the locker room leading by a tenuous three points, but eight minutes later that was up to a much more comfortable 18 points.

“I think we just kind of calmed down a little bit on what we were doing. We stepped our defense up a bit,” said Wolverines coach Steve Levasseur.

Schenck (17-3) used its size and running game to get some fast-break layups and tried to outrun the Crusaders.

“Once we got out and started running, we knew if we could get up by 10 or 12 points … we knew they’d have to come play us man to man,” Levasseur said. “We didn’t think they could stay with us ’cause they’re not quick enough.”

Schenck’s 1-2 punch of 6-2 senior center Nick Bishop and 6-2 junior forward Chris Byron poured in 21 points each, game highs. Most of their buckets came off of layups or second-chance hoops from inside the paint. Byron connected on 7 of 9 free throws.

“I think the key was just the rebounding. They got second and third shots,” said Crusaders coach Steve Lapierre. “We didn’t hit some of our shots, and they started hitting theirs.”

Kerry Thompson added 13 points for Schenck.

Ben Doucette and Tyler Conley led Van Buren (16-4) with 10 points apiece while Brandon Boulware and Trevor Hews chipped in with eight each.

PANTHERS 66, PATRIOTS 51

Cen. Aroostook (19-1) Bangor Chr. (14-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

A. York 4 11 4 4 12 Bro. Brdfd 4 17 4 4 14

McLaughln 3 6 2 2 8 Frost 5 11 13

Carlson 9 23 6 7 24 Phinney 0 1 0

Clockedile 2 5 3 4 7 Denbow 1 3 4

L.McCrthy 0 0 0 0 0 Murphy 0 1 0

B.McCrthy 0 0 0 0 0 Hinkley 0 1 0

C. York 3 5 2 2 8 Dorman 0 0 0

Walling 0 0 0 0 0 A. Smith 0 0

E.Martinez 1 7 5 6 7 M. Smith 4 10

M.Martinez 0 0 0 1 0 Gregory 1 2 2

Buchanan 0 1 0

Bre. Brdfd 0 1 0

Robinson 3 7 8

Totals 22 57 22 26 66 Totals 18 53 10 10 51

Cen. Aroostook 12 28 51 66

Bangor Christian 15 30 39 51

3-pt. goals – Central Aroostook (0-12): A. York 0-2, Carlson 0-6, Clockedile 0-2, E. Martinez 0-2; Bangor Christian (5-18): Bro. Bradford 2-7, Frost 3-9, Bre. Bradford 0-1, Denbow 0-1

WOLVERINES 73, CRUSADERS 47

Van Buren (16-4) Schenck (17-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Lizotte 0 5 0 0 0 Hutchins 1 4

B. Ducette 4 13 1 3 10 McLaugln 0 2

Chasse 0 0 0 0 0 Bishop 9 13 21

Parent 0 0 0 0 0 Lowell 1 8 6

J. Ducette 0 1 0 0 0 K. Tmpsn 4 13

Smith 0 1 0 0 0 Landry 0 1 0

O’Hare 1 1 0 0 3 L. Tmpsn 0 0

Boulware 3 4 2 2 8 Byron 7 17 21

Taylor 1 2 0 0 2 Pelkey 3 5 6

Hews 3 6 2 2 8 Lewis 0 0 0 0

Martin 1 9 1 2 3

Gagnon 1 3 1 2 3

Conley 5 12 0 0 10

Totals 19 45 7 11 47 Totals 25 62 20 29 73

Van Buren 12 24 32 47

Schenck 14 27 48 73

3-pt. goals – Van Buren (2-16): B. Doucette 1-6, O’Hare 1-1, Smith 0-1, J. Doucette 0-1, Hews 0-2, Martin 0-3, Conley 0-1, Lizotte 0-1; Schenck (3-14): K. Thompson 2-4, Lowell 1-6, Hutchins 0-3, Pelkey 0-1