AUGUSTA — Something about the Augusta Civic Center makes an already stifling Dirigo defense downright suffocating.

No. 2 Dirigo used runs of 17-0 and 16-0 at the end of the first two quarters to put a stranglehold on 10th-seeded Traip Academy and ultimately forced an 81-51 submission in the Western Class C boys’ quarterfinals Monday at the ACC.

The Cougars (16-3) will face No. 3 Old Orchard Beach in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Was this a statement game for the defending regional champions? 

“I hate to say that,” Dirigo coach Dave Gerrish said. “I just think we rebounded really well. The kids got in the passing lanes. Everybody played their role terrific today, and when that happens, good things happen.”

Good things happened to a lot of the Cougars, who shot 50 percent from the field and forced 25 turnovers. Nic Crutchfield led the brigade with 18 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Gates added 17 points, Eric Bolduc 16 points and four steals and Tyler Chiasson tallied 10 points and 10 reboundds. Nate Westman led Traip (12-6) with 12 points.

Dirigo only trailed once, 2-0 14 seconds into the game. Crutchfield scored six points early as Dirigo built an 8-2 lead. Traip pulled within 9-7 on a pair of George Mortimer free throws, but that was as close as the Rangers would get. The Rangers went more than five minutes without a field goal.

Gates kicked off the 17-0 run with a hoop, put the Cougars up a dozen with a 3-pointer, then Spencer Ross beat the buzzer with a 3 to make it 26-7 after one.

“Once we have the momentum, we love getting into the passing lanes,” Bolduc said. “Once we get the momentum, it’s really hard to stop us.” 

Traip briefly slowed the momentum with a 13-4 run to start the second quarter. Westman drilled back-to-back 3s to make it 30-20 with 3:51 left in the half, but the turnover bug returned and the Rangers didn’t score again for the rest of the half.

“Turnovers, lack of intensity, just not being physically ready to play, or mentally,” Traip coach Jeremy Paul said. “If you don’t come out of the chute ready to play, good teams will pounce on you, and that’s what Dirigo did.”

The 16-0 run began quietly enough with free throws from Bolduc, Gates and Crutchfield. Kyle Hutchinston turned up the volume with a trey, then Bolduc converted a steal into a layup with under two minutes left.

The capper came when Chiasson stripped the ball, dove to the floor and rolled it down court to Bolduc, who pulled up for a short jumper that gave the Cougars a commanding 46-20 lead at the half.

“That was so amazing,” Bolduc said. “We definitely hustled and worked well as a team tonight. We love playing here. We just play with so much aggressiveness.”

Dirigo didn’t let up in the third quarter. Mortimer hit back-to-back jumpers to start the second half, but those were the last points for one of Traip’s top scorers and its top play-maker. That wasn’t by accident.

“We were very careful to make sure we knew where Mortimer was all the time,” Gerrish said. “Kyle Hutchinson did a great job on him with Spencer Ross.”

“He’s a great player. He can step up and shoot but I think he likes to penetrate to the middle, and the whole game plan was to keep him out of the middle,” Hutchinson said. “We played the inside lane, defended him on the high side on the baseline and just worked.” 

The Cougars worked the Rangers for a 16-3 run after Mortimer’s brief outburst and led by as much as 37 points in the second half.

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