The Red Eddies survived a 9-0 start by Mt. Blue, then took control of the game in the second quarter and never relinquished it in a 59-44 triumph over the Cougars Saturday in the Eastern Class A boys’ basketball quarterfinals.

Yusuf Iman scored 12 of his game-high 16 points from the free-throw line and Bo Leary chipped in with 14 points and 11 rebounds as the third-seeded Eddies (17-2) advanced to face No. 3 Bangor in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday night. No. 7 Mt. Blue, which was led by Cam Sennichk’s 11 points and Ryan Backus’ 10 points, ends its season at 11-8.

“That 9-0 run kind of scared us,” Iman said. “Coach (Mike Adams) told us we needed to wake up and get it together, get the ball inside and play defense.”

Cody Nicholas came off the bench to score all eight of his points in a key 12-2 EL run that closed the first half. Leary got it started with a bucket inside, then Nicholas sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a pretty rainbow fadeaway by Iman. Nicholas’ last two points gave the Eddies a 29-18 lead at halftime.

Nicholas combined with Quin Leary to help EL’s bench outscore Mt. Blue’s, 16-9.

“(The second-quarter threes) got the whole team fired up, and Quin in the second half did the exact same thing,” Nicholas said. (Adams) wants me to get on the opposite side and catch and shoot.”

“They did a much better job offensively with their possessions than we did,” said Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey, whose team made just three of 13 shots in the second quarter. “I thought we played hard in the second half and gave it a good shot.”

EL was able to maintain the double-digit cushion through most of the second half by pounding the ball inside and getting to the free-throw line. A Timmy Mains steal and layup and a Quin Leary hoop lengthened the lead to 14 on two occasions.

Seth Berry cut it to 11 with a 3-pointer, but Quin Leary fed his brother Bo inside for two to make it 42-29 heading into the fourth quarter, when the Cougars never really threatened. 

“(The comfortable lead) allowed us to use some things that we like to use,” Adams said of the lead. “Yusuf was able to get some dribble-penetration and we were able to get back to getting the ball inside a little bit more.”

“I was really proud of the way that some kids stepped in tonight, especially a freshman like Quin Leary. He gave us a monster second half,” Adams added. “We have to be able to shoot the basketball and Cody Nicholas stepped up and made big shots.”

The Cougars exploded out of the gates for nine unanswered points in the first 2:13 of the game. Backus kicked off the run 27 seconds into the game with a bucket, then a Jordan Hoyt putback and a couple of inside hoops by Sennick, including a three-point play, had the Mt. Blue partisans thinking upset.

“We had scripted what  we were going to do early,” Bessey said. “We ran a couple of special plays and got baskets, and then we did a couple of trick defenses and that bothered them. I think the fact that we got ahead like that maybe caused us to get a little faster offensively than we should have been. We wanted to be a little more patient.”

Adams called a time out, but not to calm down his players.

“I think maybe I was more nervous than them,” Adams said. “The kids maybe took that start as a hit to the face. It’s not that we weren’t ready. We missed a couple of shots and we made some bad plays and Mt. Blue certainly capitalized on them in the first two minutes of the game.” 

The Eddiescame out of the time out determined to shut down Mt. Blue’s inside game, and they held Sennick and Backus to four points combined the rest of the half.

“That was the key to the game, see if we could stop their two bigs down low, take care of their guards outside and make sure we keep them out of the paint,” Iman said. “That’s how they create their offense, get their guards into the paint and feed it to their big men.”

Bo Leary sparked the comeback with back-to-back inside hoops. Quin Leary banked a foul-line jumper to complete EL’s 10-0 run. The Cougars led for the final time on a pair of Sennick free throws to make it 11-10, then Iman ended the quarter with a baseline drive and a free throw for a 13-11 Eddies advantage.