Portland – The two-time defending Class A State champion Greely Rangers received 46 points from Logan Bagshaw and Andrew Storey as the top-seeded Rangers took down Mt. Ararat, 70-46 in boys high school basketball quarterfinal action Friday night at the Portland Expo.

“We wanted to start out fast and not let up,” Greely coach Travis Seaver said.

Top-seeded Greely (16-3) will square off with the fifth-seed, Kennebunk, on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Mt. Ararat (10-10) closes out its season after advancing to the quarterfinals with a prelim win against Morse on Tuesday.

“It was a great experience coming to play here,” senior Austin Damon said. “We had never done that so it was pretty cool to make it this far.”

The experienced Rangers raced out to a 9-0 lead to open the contest as Mt. Ararat missed its first six shots of the game.

“We were prepared, but we haven’t seen that type of transition basketball all year,” Mt. Ararat coach David Dubreuil said. “I think we had a little nerves at the beginning, they started 9-0 and we had to call a couple of timeouts, calm them down. It’s a big stage for them and I think they adjusted pretty well.”

Will Kavanaugh broke the ice for the Eagles, hitting a shot from behind the arc midway through the quarter, but Storey answered with the first of two 3-pointers he made for the game. Mt. Ararat continued to claw back, getting baskets from Jared Balser and Damon.

Despite a pair of steals each by Max Spelke and Will Kavanaugh that forced six first-quarter turnovers, Greely found itself with a 14-7 lead after eight minutes of play.

“The whole thing we’ve been talking about is stopping runs early, we usually let the players work it out,” Seaver said. “But with it being the first game of the tournament, we reminded them.”

Storey finished the frame with 10 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.

“They hit some shots,” Dubreuil said. “They have the experience here and on top of their transition game, their shots hurt us.”

The Rangers continued to run with the ball in the second frame, finding more points from their scoring duo, with Bagshaw netting 10 second-quarter points behind a pair of threes. Storey added six more for Greely.

Mt. Ararat crept to within seven points, 20-13 and traded hoops with the Rangers until turnovers bit the Eagles and Greely closed the half with a 35-21 lead.

Mt. Ararat received eight points from Balser in the second frame, finishing with 10 for the half while hauling in four boards.

“They were double teaming Jared, he did a good job with what he could underneath, we just weren’t able to get our inside-out game going,” Dubreuil said.

Experience pulls away

While Bagshaw and Storey continued to score their points, the Rangers also received contributions from seniors Zach Brown and Michael Coppersmith in the third quarter. Brown netted five points, including three from the charity stripe after being fouled on a 3-point shot early in the half.

After going 5-for-5 from the line in the first half, Greely was a perfect 11-for-11 in the second, making all 16 shots from the stripe.

“Obviously this a fun and exciting time, I’m sure there are some emotions that they can have, but these kids have played here before and they’re pretty comfortable with it,” Seaver said.

Kavanaugh hit another three and Damon continued to sprawl out on the court diving for loose balls, but it just wasn’t enough.

Greely led 52-33 after three quarters, outscoring the Eagles 17-12 in the quarter. Storey and Bagshaw each nailed threes in the fourth and they pulled away to advance.

Balser finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Kavanaugh scored seven second-half points, adding another trey for the contest, finishing with 10 points.

Brown scored 12 points, while Coppersmith added six in the victory.