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BYFIELD — The Newburyport boys basketball team used a span of five minutes of game time last evening to secure its first sectional final appearance in 11 years. The fifth-seeded Clippers closed out the first half against eighth-seeded Pentucket with an 18-0 run spanning 5:00 en route to a 53-39 victory in the EMass. Division 3 North semifinal at Triton Regional High. Newburyport will play third-seeded Watertown (17-5) Saturday (TBA) at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Newburyport’s Brett Fontaine had a game-high 21 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Drew Carter added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Clippers. Chris Jayne had nine points. Eric Meyer had six points and nine rebounds. Pentucket struggled to find the holes in the Newburyport defense. The Clippers held Pentucket’s leading scorer Corey McNamara to five points on 2-for-16 shooting. McNamara, who averaged 17.4 points per game this season, was pivotal in Pentucket’s quarterfinal victory over top-seeded Hamilton-Wenham. In that contest, he scored 21, including six 3-pointers. “We knew we had to out-execute them on offense and defense,” Fontaine said. “We worked all week on their tendencies. We shut down McNamara, which is the key to stopping Pentucket.” Pentucket was well-positioned to advance to its first sectional final in program history with five minutes remaining in the first half. Leading 17-13, the Sachems were held scoreless until the break. Newburyport led 31-17 at halftime, and Pentucket never closed the lead to fewer than nine points in the second half. “We had too many breakdowns during that stretch at the end of the first half,” said Pentucket coach Leo Parent. They beat us with dribble-penetration, and they were shooting layups. That gave them confidence. We built a lead, and within seconds, they had us on our heels, and our defense broke down.” Will Angelini and John Modlish led Pentucket with eight points each. L’Italien said his team was content playing man-to-man defense in the paint with the threat of McNamara roaming along the 3-point arc. “Corey lit us up for the last two years,” L’Italien said. “We didn’t play any help on him. He’s a tremendous competitor, and every time the ball comes out of his hands, it looks like it’s going in. He’s knocked down a lot of those shots. Fortunately for us, it wasn’t his night.” Newburyport missed the state tournament each of the last two seasons. The eight seniors on this year’s team made a vow to each other following last season to make a year-round commitment. “We haven’t really talked about the Tsongas Center until this week,” L’Italien said. “We knew what we were playing for. We always talk about the process — doing the little things that we can control. It took on a life of its own as we went along. We started believing and stringing together some nice wins.” The Sachems posted their highest win total since 2005, also the last time they advanced to the sectional semifinal. They will return two of their top players in McNamara and junior captain Nolan Dragon, who missed much of the season due to a broken leg. “When the dust settles, we’ll reflect on our season,” Parent said. “I’m very proud of our seniors. They brought the excitement back to Pentucket basketball this season. We overcame a lot with Nolan’s broken leg and other injuries. The chance to play Newburyport for a trip to the Tsongas Center was a lot of fun. We’d like to do it again next year.”

Newburyport 53, Pentucket 39 Triton Regional High, Byfield EMass. Division 3 North semifinal Pentucket (39): Will Angelini 4-0-8; John Modlish 3-2-8; Mike Doud 3-0-7; Serge Smaila 2-0-6; Nolan Dragon 2-1-5; Corey McNamara 2-0-5; Totals 16-3-39. Newburyport (53): Brett Fontaine 8-5-21; Drew Carter 5-0-10; Chris Jayne 4-0-9; Eric Meyer 2-2-6; Matt Leavitt 2-0-5; Zach Fenton 1-0-2; Totals 22-7-53. 3-pointers: P, Smaila 2, Doud, McNamara; N, Jayne, Leavitt. Halftime: N, 31-17. Records: N, 15-7; P, 13-10.

In just his second varsity start, Angel Sanquintin came up huge for Georgetown in its 58-56 victory over Newburyport. With the fourth-quarter shot clock twice nearing zero, the sophomore nailed a jumper and a clutch 3-pointer for the Royals. Classmate Johnny Spears had steals that he coverted into three big points in the late going.

Even with Kyle Lentini submitting his second straight strong effort, scoring 16 points, North Reading couldn't get past Newburyport, dropping a 59-46 decision.

Jimmy Warden's 3-pointer with 1:48 to play put North Andover on top for good as the Knights survived a scare from Newburyport, holding on for a 63-60 win. Clinging to a one-point lead with 15 seconds to play, sophomore Derek Collins (15 points) beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer to clinch it.

Pentucket's man-to-man defense took Newburyport out of its offense in the second half, allowing the Sachems to charge back from a 12-point defense to win by a dozen, 54-42, to open River Rival Tourney play. Tim Freiermuth excelled at the defensive end and drained three 3-pointers in a clutch third-quarter effort. Will Angelini (12 points) added eight third-quarter points and joined John Modlish for a strong effort on the boards.