The top-seeded Belmont boys’ basketball team (18-1) opened its Division III postseason with a 72-50 victory over No. 8 Fall Mountain (12-6), while No. 3 Kearsarge needed double overtime to get by No. 6 Gilford, 48-45, in Friday night’s quarterfinal round.

The No. 9 Hopkinton Hawks, the only Capital Area girls’ team remaining in the tournament, saw their season come to an end on Saturday night to top-seeded St. Thomas, 70-44.

Coming in fresh off their first home playoff game since 1994 and first home playoff win since 1993, the No. 8 Wildcats took a 6-0 lead and kept the Raiders off the board until Belmont finally scored its first bucket with 3:45 remaining in the first quarter. Fall Mountain led 12-4 before junior guard Wyatt Carroll came off the bench and connected on a much-needed 3-pointer to cut Belmont’s deficit to 12-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Carroll hit another 3 to cut Fall Mountain’s lead to 12-10 on the first possession of the second quarter. Senior forward Anakin Underhill (10 points, 12 rebounds) tied the game, 17-17, on a basket with 4:41 left in the half and junior guard Treshawn Ray (18 points, eight assists) hit a free throw 36 seconds later to give Belmont it’s first lead of the night, 18-17.

“Wyatt really amped us up and picked us up in that first quarter,” Belmont head coach Tony Martinez said.

That lead came as part of an 18-4 second quarter run that put the Raiders up 31-21 at halftime.

“It was just a matter of executing. You also say a week between games isn’t going to bother you, but you could definitely see the rust in that first quarter,” coach Martinez said, referring to his team’s first-round bye. “We were a little out of the gameplan in that first quarter, but in the second quarter we got back to doing what we do.”

Senior forward Keegan Martinez (17 points, 14 rebounds) hit a hoop to start the third, and Fall Mountain made two free throws and two baskets to cut Belmont’s lead to 33-27, but the Raiders went on a 7-0 run after that and only built on their lead from there.

Belmont led 52-35 heading into the fourth quarter and cruised in the fourth for the 72-50 final score.

Senior guards Brady Thurber (11 points) and Michael Collette (seven points) also hit key baskets for the Raiders.

Coach Martinez credited Thurber’s clutch shooting, three 3-pointers in the second half, for forcing Fall Mountain to expand its zone defense, allowing his teammates more open looks.

Luke St. Pierre (16 points) and Ledger Willett (11 points) led the Wildcats.

Now, the Raiders turn their attention to No. 5 St. Thomas (15-3), their opponent for Wednesday night’s semifinal at Bow High School. Belmont narrowly beat the Saints, 50-48, on Jan. 16. St. Thomas ousted No. 4 Campbell, the team responsible for the Raiders’ only loss this season, 71-66 on Friday night.

St. Thomas boasts a head coach, Dave Morrisette, with 20 years of coaching at the college level at Rivier, and sophomore guard Cole McClure, who was named the Division III Player of the Year as a freshman.

Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

“The key is doing what we do and executing our game plan,” coach Martinez said. “Sometimes in games like this, teams tend to overthink things. Sometimes less is more. If we go in and do what we’ve done all year and capitalize on what we do well, I think we’ll be very competitive.”

No. 3 Kearsarge 48, No. 6 Gilford 45, 2OT

Just like they did in their preliminary round win, the Cougars (18-2) came out hot from behind the 3-point arc, connecting on six treys in the first quarter to take a 22-10 lead after the first quarter, but Kearsarge’s best player, All-State First Team senior guard Noah Whipple, had a collision with Gilford’s Cooper Perkins (13 points).

Kearsarge was leading 24-12 when Whipple (eight points) was removed from the game (he did not return) and the Eagles (14-6) went on a 17-4 run to take a 29-28 lead at halftime.

The teams traded baskets and leads in the third quarter, but Gilford had a 37-34 advantage heading into the fourth.

Sophomore guard Eli Whipple (nine points) tied the game with a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left in regulation and the Eagles couldn’t score their final possession, sending the game to overtime tied 41-41.

Each team could only muster one basket each over the next four minutes, sending the game to another OT tied 43-43.

Perkins gave Gilford an early lead in the second OT with a basket, but senior guard Austin Needham (23 points) drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give Kearsarge a 46-45 lead with less than two minutes remaining and senior guard Ajay Tremblay (five points) hit a pair of free throws to secure the win.

“That was one of the most exciting and emotional games I've been a part of,” Kearsarge head coach Nate Camp said. “Many players stepped up and showed lots of resilience under pressure. I'm proud of the boys for their locked down defense late and clutch shooting (11 3-pointers as a team).”

Bragen Kinzer scored Kearsarge’s only basket in the first overtime and Davin Boehle also scored two points, while both played key minutes on the floor.

Henry Sleeper (11 points) also reached double figures for Gilford.

Kearsarge will take on No. 2 Mascoma (18-1) at Bow High School on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

No. 1 St. Thomas 70, No. 9 Hopkinton 44

The Hawks (12-6) played much better than when they last played the Saints, a 69-28 defeat on Jan. 24, but the buzzsaw that is St. Thomas was too much for Hopkinton to overcome in Saturday’s quarterfinal, despite 30 points from senior Shaylee Murdough and 20 rebounds from Sydney Westover.

Hopkinton trailed by single digits early in the second quarter, but the Saints (17-0), led by Emma Toriello (16 points) and Genna Bolduc (15 points) opened things up in the second quarter to take a 44-18 halftime lead.

The Hawks played well defensively in the third, holding the Saints to six points, but Murdough fouled out late in the game, after scoring a career-high 30 points in her final game.

Westover scored six points for Hopkinton.

“The score doesn’t reflect our effort,” Hopkinton head coach Mike Mahoney said. “We went into the second half down 26 and got it to 50-35 early in the fourth. Just too big a deficit to overcome against a team that talented. So proud of this team, they left everything on the floor tonight.”