PORTLAND — Yarmouth entered Saturday’s Western Class B boys’ basketball quarterfinal intent on sending an early message to its upstart opponent.

It was delivered loud and clear.

Josh Britten scored 14 of his 22 points in the opening half as the No. 4 Clippers opened a sizable early lead and never looked back in a 77-35 victory over 11th-seeded Lincoln Academy (9-11) at the Portland Expo.

Yarmouth (15-4) advanced to the semifinals Thursday against second-seeded Spruce Mountain at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Yarmouth was intent on not letting Lincoln Academy build on its momentum from an upset win over Greely in the preliminary round. The Clippers forced 21 turnovers in the first quarter and surged out to a 27-4 lead.

“We are just an up-and-down team,” said Britten. “We don’t have that much size, so our speed is something that we rely on. Defense is our bread and butter and our full-court zone is what kills teams. Maybe they weren’t ready for our pressure, but we were definitely ready to go.”

David Murphy had eight points in a 19-0 run that closed out the first quarter. Chris Knaub and Britten each added seven points.

“As you could see, our kids were not ready for (their press),” said Lincoln Academy Coach Chris McKenney. “They looked real scared out there and they were looking for someone to step forward and help.

“It comes back to that pressure. It really affected us. That full-court trap, the half-court trap, it affected the way we played today.”

It was more of the same in the second quarter. They Clippers continued to force Lincoln to cough up the ball and capitalized on nearly every opportunity.

Yarmouth used a 15-0 run in the opening minutes of the second quarter to increase its lead to 42-6.

The Clippers led 54-12 at the break.

“We just wanted to come out flying and work hard,” said Murphy, who scored all 15 of his points in the first half.

“I was a little surprised how quickly we got ahead. They are a good team, but I guess they weren’t ready.”

Britton scored eight points early in the third quarter as Yarmouth’s lead grew to 65-16 before the starters headed to the bench.

“We came here with the expectation to play well,” said Yarmouth Coach Adam Smith. “We knew if we got into a half-court game that Lincoln Academy would cause problems for us with their size and length. So we just got it early to our pace.

“When you do that in the tournament and start knocking down shots like that it’s hard to stop the roll. We were very fortunate to get the pace to our liking as opposed to them dictating it off the glass.”

Dylan Leavitt led Lincoln Academy with 10 points.