AUGUSTA — Madison and Boothbay stayed within four points of each other the entire first half.

The second half was completely different. The Bulldogs quickly created separation and pulled away to win Monday’s Class C South boys’ basketball quarterfinal, 63-41, at Augusta Civic Center.

The Bulldogs scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 10-point lead, 35-25, and continued to add to their lead for the remainder of the final two quarters.

“(Team captain) Evan Bess told them losing wasn’t an option, and we came out in the second half and we executed our game plan a little bit better,” Madison coach Jason Furbush said.

Mitchell Jarvais led the Bulldogs in the first half with nine points. The Bulldogs’ guards — particularly Nick Morales, Sean Whalen and Bess —took over the game by penetrating into Boothbay’s zone defense.

“Nick Morales took the ball to the hoop well, took care of it, and Mitch did a great job on the boards and inside.

“I thought definitely we had an advantage when it came to that, especially when they had to start extending it, it really played in our hands. When they sit back in their 2-3 zone, they’re tough; when they have to extend it, I thought that created some matchup difficulties for them.”

Whalen scored 14 of his team-high 16 in the second half. Jarvais finished with 13 points, and Morales had 12.

In addition to a more attacking offense, Furbush also said that the Bulldogs were fortunate that Boothbay’s Kyle Ames cooled down after his 12-point first half. Ames was held scoreless after halftime.

“In the first half, we were getting out in transition, and we didn’t to that much in the second half,” Seahawks coach I.J. Pinkham said. “And I’ve got to give Madison credit, they played great man-to-man defense today. They took us right out of our offense — we were standing around.

“Defensively, we didn’t do a great job keeping Morales out of the paint. Because once he gets in there, a lot of bad things happen.”

Jacob Leonard added 10 points for Boothbay.

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