BANGOR – Head coaches Roger Reed of Bangor and Mike Nelson of Skowhegan had a lot in common this weekend.

Both of their highly seeded teams had identical records, both ran into stiff challenges from underdogs in Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals, both struggled and trailed in the second half… and both made semifinal reservations.

Reed’s Rams used their quickness and Waterville’s foul trouble to pull away in the final quarter and notch a 50-42 victory Saturday afternoon. Nelson’s Indians utilized two late runs and star guard Braden Clement’s clutch play to eliminate No. 7 Nokomis of Newport 65-58 Saturday night.

As a result, both 17-2 teams will return to the Bangor Auditorium Friday night as No. 2 Skowhegan takes on No. 3 Bangor in an 8:40 p.m. semifinal game.

Sixth-seeded Waterville finishes 12-7 while Nokomis goes home with an 8-11 record after its first tournament appearance since 1989.

Saturday afternoon, Reed wasn’t about to take too many chances in a low-scoring, physical game dominated by defense, so he kept looking for any advantage he could use to put the game away. He found it late in the third quarter.

“When I looked up and saw five fouls and we had just picked up our second, I decided then we’d spread it and try to get them up to seven, eight, nine fouls, and take care of things at the line,” Reed said.

“That was the key moment in the game because if it had gone the other way, they could have done the same thing. That’s what I was worried about, to be honest with you.”

So the Rams pulled the ball out, moved it around, and looked for backdoor and baseline cuts for easy scores or Panther fouls.

The strategy paid off as the Rams went on an 11-0 run in a three-minute span to turn a 29-24 Panthers lead with 2:49 left in the third into a 35-29 lead with seven minutes left in the game. Waterville also picked up its sixth and seventh fouls during the span.

“We probably would have done the same thing and pounded it inside,” said Waterville coach Ken Lindlof. “That was a wise move, especially when they got ahead… making us chase because they’re a little quicker than our guys.”

It looked even wiser as the Rams shot 15-for-20 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 12-for-16 in the final three minutes.

Senior guard Elliot Blackstone made up for a slow start by shooting 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch. He finished with 12 points, six rebounds, and two steals.

“It was a real physical game,” Blackstone said. “They came out and played hard and we realized we had to kick it into another gear to win this game.”

Duane Peoples also had a solid, all-around effort with 11 points, four rebounds, and five assists.

Senior center Sean Flood led Waterville with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds. Chris DeGuzman had 13 points and six boards.

Saturday night, the Indians weren’t able to break open a tight game until Clement took control of the offense and scored six straight points in a 13-0 run that gave the them a 41-30 lead late in the third.

But the Warriors refused to fold, answering with a 6-1 spurt and then outscoring the Indians 9-3 to chop the lead to 47-45 with 5:37 to play.

After a timeout, the Indians went back to attacking the lane and breaking Nokomis’ press. After taking a 53-48 lead with 3:26 to go, the Indians iced things with an 8-1 run over the next two minutes.

After scoring only four points in the first half, Clement led a balanced Skowhegan attack with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“He still didn’t score enough for me because everything he got, he got off the dribble,” Nelson said. “We weren’t screening for him, and in the first half, they didn’t even look for him.”

Sean Walker scored 13 points off the Indians’ bench. Ben Clark had 11 points and seven boards.

Eric Driscoll (13 points, eight rebounds, two blocks) led Nokomis while Richie Otis had 16 points and Greg Morse grabbed 10 boards.

Rams 50, Purple Panthers 42

Waterville (12-7) Bangor boys (17-2)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Weisser 1 6 0 0 2 Loukes 3 6 2 2 8

Co.DeGzmn 0 1 0 0 0 Gildart 1 5 0 0 3

Nale 0 2 0 0 0 Peoples 3 7 5 8 11

L’Heureux 0 0 0 0 0 Blackstone 3 10 6 6 12

LaMarre 0 0 0 0 0 Campbell 4 6 2 4 10

Ch.DeGzmn 5 17 2 5 13 Bradford 2 3 2 3 6

Flood 7 12 3 7 17 Civiello 0 0 0 0 0

Caron 4 10 0 1 10

Greenlaw 0 0 0 0 0

Wolcott 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 17 48 5 13 42 Totals 16 37 17 23 50

Waterville 12 21 29 42

Bangor 10 18 31 50

3-pt. goals: Waterville (3-12): Caron 2-4, Ch. DeGuzman 1-4, Weisser 0-1, Nale 0-1, Flood 0-2; Bangor (1-8): Gildart 1-3, Loukes 0-1, Peoples 0-2, Blackstone 0-2

Indians 65, Warriors 58

Nokomis boys (8-11) Skowhegan (17-2)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Henderson 3 10 2 2 9 Estes 3 3 0 2 6

Peters 0 0 0 0 0 Higgins 0 0 0 0 0

Otis 6 18 3 4 16 Clement 6 13 8 8 20

White 4 15 2 4 11 Rowbottom 4 9 1 4 10

Morse 3 5 0 0 7 Clark 4 6 3 6 11

Tourgee 0 0 0 0 0 Walker 5 10 0 0 13

Driscoll 6 12 1 2 13 Burnham 1 3 0 0 3

Williams 1 1 0 2 2 Clossey 1 4 0 0 2

Totals 23 61 8 14 58 Totals 24 48 12 20 65

Nokomis 17 28 34 58

Skowhegan 18 28 42 65

3-pt. goals: Nokomis (4-14): Morse 1-2, White 1-3, Henderson 1-4, Otis 1-5; Skowhegan (5-12): Walker 3-7, Burnham 1-1, Rowbottom 1-4