AUGUSTA — If somebody had told Lew Jensen his only dinner option was a slice of pizza for every shot he hit during Saturday’s pregame at Augusta Civic Center, the Edward Little sophomore might have been eating scraps of pepperoni off the floor.

“I couldn’t hit anything,” Jensen lamented.

Then a horn sounded, players were introduced, the ball was tipped into the air, and Jensen channeled Larry Bird, Ray Allen, fill in the name of your favorite 3-point shooter here.

Messalonskee was left wondering what happened to the once-jittery Jensen, who drained five treys in the first half and six overall and staked No. 2 EL to a 67-51 Eastern Class A quarterfinal victory over the No. 7 Eagles.

Jensen scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half to lead four scorers in double figures for the Red Eddies (17-2), who advanced to the semifinals for the sixth consecutive February.

EL will face Lawrence at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“We finally used our post (players). We told Lew, it’s nice for you to hit shots in 13-point games, but it’s time for you to step up and be the player you can be in three-point games,” EL coach Mike Adams said.

Jensen nailed two 3-pointers from each corner in the first quarter. The first two, within 1:42 of the tap, triggered a 13-0 EL run to start the game.

Mahad Mohamed and Sean Ford also sandwiched hoops around a Quin Leary 3-pointer in the opening surge.

“I hit one and just kept shooting. It felt good,” said the 6-foot-5 Jensen, who was one of the Eddies’ key reserves a year ago as a freshman. “It’s nice to have a lot of kids scoring, because you can’t really stop one kid.”

Ford added 15 points and seven rebounds for EL. Leary combined his 13 points with a team-high 16 boards, including a staggering nine courtesy of the offensive glass.

“Quin was a freakin’ man. He went after the ball and just ripped it away from people,” Adams said. “He was the difference. That’s the best I’ve ever seen him play.”

Nate Alexander scored seven of his 11 points in the third period for EL.

The Eddies weathered multiple runs by Messalonskee (10-9), which lost by two points to EL during the regular-season and refused to go away in the rematch.

Four different players scored during an 8-1 Eagles push after the Eddies’ game-christening charge.

Messalonskee scored eight straight points to get it down to three at 22-19 with five minutes left in the half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Travis Stacey and Jordon Holmes started the comeback.

Holmes’ salvo was his second of five from beyond the arc. He finished with 23 points.

“We were a little nervous and stuff, but then as the game went on it got a little better,” said Messalonskee forward Nick Mayo, who concluded with nine points and 12 rebounds. “We started thinking maybe we could pull away with this one.”

EL stormed back with nine unanswered points, beginning with two buckets by Leary — one a putback, the other off a tip rebound by Jensen.

Jensen converted Ford’s cross-court pass into a 3-pointer No. 5, and he followed by spinning Ian Mileikis’ steal into a fast break layup.

Alexander’s jumper made it a 33-21 halftime lead.

“The first thing Coach Adams said when we got in the locker room was ‘this game’s not over,'” Mohamed said.

“We just kind of weathered their storm,” Jensen said. “We really came back and hit big shots and got big rebounds to kind of keep them within 10. We didn’t want to let them break that 10-point barrier.”

Messalonskee and EL exchanged baskets for much of the third period. It was Ford and Alexander’s slashing to the hoop early and baskets by Mileikis and Jensen (yes, another 3-pointer) late that kept the lead at a dozen, 51-39.

Elijah Steele had eight of his 12 points in the third period for Messalonskee. Holmes’ 40-foot heave at the buzzer began a 13-3 Eagles rally that made it 54-49 on a Mayo turnaround with 4:30 to go.

The next eight points came from the Eddies, six on putbacks by Leary and Ford. Mohamed also scored an easy deuce off a Jensen feed.

“Everything we usually do well, we did well tonight.” Mohamed said.

“It never gets old,” Adams said of EL’s tournament run that began in 2008. “I’m just as excited and I was just as nervous before this one as I was any of the other ones. This feels good.”

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