Old Lyme — Old Lyme watched Morgan score the first six points in Monday's CIAC Division V boys' basketball tournament quarterfinal.

Morgan watched the Wildcats jet past them from there.

Aedan Using scored a game-high 22 points as third-seeded Old Lyme thrashed its Shoreline Conference rival 61-41 before an a sold out home gymnasium and advanced to its first state semifinal since 2013.

"We got out to a bad start going down 6-0," Wildcats head coach Kirk Kaczor said. "Then, after that, they just kind of turned it on.

"Once the jitters were gone, they went at it."

Brady Sheffield had 17 points and Ray Doll scored 10 for Old Lyme (20-5), which will play No. 2 Somers in Wednesday's semifinals at 7 p.m. at Maloney High School in Meriden.

The Spartans mangled No. 10 Shepaug Valley 75-49 in its quarterfinal.

Somers, from the North Central Connecticut Conference, is 18-5.

Top-seeded Innovation and No. 5 Valley Regional, another Shoreline rival of the Wildcats, will play in the other semifinal.

Garrett Johnson scored 17 points for Morgan (17-8).

Old Lyme hosted the Huskies on Senior Night in its final game of the regular season (Feb. 21) and lost 57-56. It was the Wildcats only home loss all season and their only meeting.

Kaczor called timeout after his team's pokey start Monday and told his team to calm down.

"I said, 'Just settle in and play our game,'" he said. "'You guys can't beat them by 20 points on the first play. Let's take it one possession at a time. You look like you're a little nervous. ... One play at a time and we'll be fine."

The Wildcats went ahead 18-11 after one quarter.

Using scored the first four points of an 8-0 run to end the first half to push Old Lyme's lead to 35-16.

"From scouting them, by watching film on the previous game, we discovered they were pretty weak in the pick-and-roll defense," Using said. "We came at them really hard with the pick-and-roll, and then we put then in zone. They didn't seem like they were comfortable in zone.

"We got a good amount of stops and rebounds and were able to get out in transition, and it really helped us."

Sheffield came out strong in the second half by scoring six quick points, including a 3-pointer, to extend Old Lyme's lead to 41-20 with 6:28 left in the third quarter.

Morgan cut the deficit to 43-30 with 2:12 remaining in the quarter, but the Wildcats closed with a 7-0 run. Jared Ritchie finished it with a three-point play to give Old Lyme a 50-30 edge.

Using's steal and transition layup gave the Wildcats their biggest lead, 59-36, with 2:56 remaining.

"We've got some really good players on this team," Kaczor said. "Today, they were obviously ready to attack.

n.griffen@theday.com