The No. 3-seed Bainbridge Spartans (16-5, 12-2 in Olympic League) beat the No. 6-seed Sequim Wolves (11-11, 9-5 OL) 77-66 at home Feb. 17 in the second round of the District 3 2A boys basketball tournament.

The Spartans will now play No.-2 seed Clover Park in the district semifinals at 6 p.m. Feb. 19 at Bremerton High School. The winner will advance to the district championship game and will qualify for the state tournament.

“We’re a much different team this time of year than we were in November, early December,” Bainbridge coach Scott Orness said. “I’ve just been really proud of these guys on how much they’ve developed from game one.”

The Spartans and Wolves kept it close for the majority of the first quarter, with neither team able to establish a stronghold over the other.

Bainbridge trailed early in the first up until the four-minute mark when wing Kethan Reed converted on a fastbreak layup, flipping the score in favor of the Spartans at 9-7.

The Spartans managed to hold on and grow their lead for the remainder of the first despite a pressing defense from Sequim, leading 19-16 by the end of the quarter.

The Spartan defense improved in the second quarter, limiting Sequim scores and allowing Bainbridge to get out to a double-digit lead at 31-21 with 4:29 remaining in the half. Bainbridge limited the Wolves to only four points halfway through the second.

Bainbridge led 43-32 at halftime.

The Bainbridge offense remained strong at the beginning of the third quarter, scoring at-will against the Wolves. Nonetheless, Sequim was able to keep up with Bainbridge, shrinking their deficit from 11 to three by the middle portion of the third, largely due to missed shots from the Spartans and better offensive execution from the Wolves.

The Spartans amped up their intensity on the defensive side of the ball, getting back to forcing turnovers and making life difficult for Sequim, entering the fourth quarter up 64-55. Ryan Rohrbacher and Reed were the leading scorers at the end of three with 18 and 17, respectively.

“I mean, start of the third we struggled at first,” Orness said. “We were in our zone [defense] still, and we [were] missing assignments.”

Reed and wing Kaden Thielmann converted on shots late in the fourth quarter, getting Bainbridge’s lead out to 13, their largest of the game.

“It’s hard to beat a good team three times,” Rohrbacher said. “They’ll adapt, and they did. They threw some new stuff at us, but I feel like we did a good job adjusting.”