AUGUSTA — Fouls, charges, steals and grit filled the first half as the Greenville boys’ basketball team escaped the first 16 minutes with a two-point lead over Rangeley.

The grit-and-grind nature of the game came to an end in the third when Greenville’s Camden Harmon took over. Harmon scored two layups before hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to finish with 13 points in the quarter.

No. 5 Greenville went on a 22-4 run in the third quarter and rolled to a 55-38 win over No. 4 Rangeley in a Class D South quarterfinal game at the Augusta Civic Center.

Greenville’s Christopher Caiazzo calls a time out before Rangeley’s Nolan Boone, left and William Brey, right can tie him up during Saturday morning’s tournament matchup at the Augusta Civic Center. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Greenville will play top-seeded Forest Hills on Wednesday in Augusta at 2:30 p.m.

The keys for Greenville in the second half were simple: Fix some mistakes and avoid fouling as much.

“We didn’t make any adjustments except to stop the second-chance points and box out,” Greenville coach Joseph Pelletier said. “I think out of their 18 points in the first half that 16 were foul shots and second-chance points.”

It also helped that there were very few misses in the third, especially for Harmon, who was in the zone from the start of the half.

“It felt great,” Harmon said. “I knew it every time. I was feeling it in my hands and everything, it was crazy.”

Harmon’s trio of 3-pointers were part of the team’s five in the quarter.

“He’s been big all year, he’s our guy,” Pelletier said. “He averages 16 points and 10 rebounds and he’s the engine that keeps us going. It was good he was able to stay out of foul trouble.”

For Rangeley, the shots weren’t falling and the defense slacked.

“The third quarter has been our death note all year,” Rangeley coach Jeff LaRochelle said. “Two, four points in games. When we are good, we are good but when we’re bad then we are pretty good at being bad.”

LaRochelle said he hoped to get Greenville into foul trouble. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

“We were only down by two at the half and I said, ‘You guys are in a good place right now,’” LaRochelle said. “We get in the third quarter and we don’t execute and all the sudden the team that had what, 10 fouls at the half? They have two. I thought if we could get them to their seventh, eighth, ninth guy we would be in a good spot.”

Rangeley picked up the pace early in the fourth with Nolan Boone trying to will his team back. Boone scored six of his 15 points in the final frame, while William Bray added four in the period.

Greenville hit 11 free throws in the fourth quarter, however, to ice the game.

Greenville used its pressure defense to open things up early.

Greenville’s Camden Harmon, left, and Rangeley’s Ian Lillis jockey for position during a Class D South quarterfinal game Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

It was in the passing lanes in the first quarter with six steals in the first eight minutes, three coming in the first 60 seconds. The pressure slowed Rangeley’s offense to the tune of just 10 points.

“My concern was the 50-50 passes don’t work,” LaRochelle said. “It came down to execution.”

Boone scored four points and grabbed six rebounds for Rangeley in the first quarter while Lillis scored all six of his points in the frame.

Greenville’s Samuel Lane scored six in the first to lead the team in the quarter.

It took Greenville 4:10 to score in the second quarter before a made free throw gave it a 16-15 lead. Rangeley had put the clamps down a bit to be able to climb back into the game. It made six free throws and only one field goal in the second quarter and trailed 20-18 going into halftime. The talk at halftime from Pelletier was heard loud and clear.

“Anytime you come out with that much energy, I think we outscored them by 18 in the third, it’s big,” Pelletier said. “We had them in the first half. They were making bad passes, our zone was working and we had them where we wanted them.”