ST. PAULS — The minutes just before halftime can play a large role in determining a game’s momentum as the teams head to the locker rooms and make their game plans for the second half.

The last three-plus minutes of the second quarter in Monday’s Southeastern Athletic Conference boys tournament quarterfinal belonged to St. Pauls.

The Bulldogs turned a tied game into a 15-point intermission advantage and were well on their way to a 77-50 win over Red Springs.

“We just wanted to make sure we got a chance to share the ball and get the guys out in transition, and look up, that’s our most important thing,” St. Pauls coach Corey Thompson said.

Fourth-seeded St. Pauls (12-13) will play at No. 1 Fairmont in the tournament’s semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday, with No. 2 West Bladen set to face No. 3 Midway in the other semifinal. Fifth-seeded Red Springs (8-17) saw not only its tournament end, but most likely its season.

Red Springs’ Jadien Brown tied the game at 22-22 with a 3-pointer at the 3:37 mark of the second quarter. From that point, St. Pauls finished the half on an 18-3 run to take a 40-25 halftime lead.

“Playing hard, that helped get us that run in the second (quarter),” the Bulldogs’ Tyson Thompson said. “We were playing together.”

The run began with a Theophilus Setzer basket-and-1, then continued when Tykeem Oxendine scored on back-to-back possessions, with a layup and a 3, for a 30-22 lead. After Red Springs’ only field goal of the span, the Bulldogs got baskets in quick succession from Tyson Thompson, Jahki Purcell, off a steal, and Chris Bryant, for 3, before Antonio Arnold hit a corner 3 with four seconds left to give St. Pauls its 15-point lead as the half expired.

“(It was) playing defense, pressing the ball,” Tykeem Oxendine said. “We tried to get our guys involved, our whole team, and try to win this game. … We were just trying to make a statement.”

“I felt like fatigue started to set in towards the end of the second quarter and our guys couldn’t get back and we couldn’t maintain defense,” Red Springs coach Glenn Patterson Jr. said. “We started having some confusion on the defense we was running and St. Pauls just took advantage of it. They were finding the open man, our guys would be out of line, and they made us pay every single time our guys messed up defensively.

The momentum continued into the early minutes of the second half, with St. Pauls starting the third quarter on a 10-3 run, primarily coming from the free-throw line, to lead 50-28 with 5:10 left in the quarter. Makhi Arthur scored seven points in the quarter, but a 16-point margin was the closest the Red Devils got; the Bulldogs took a 62-42 lead into the final period.

The gap remained 20 or more points throughout the entirety of the fourth.

Tyson Thompson led St. Pauls with 16 points.

“We made it important to pass the ball in this game and not be selfish. That helped get us the win,” Tyson Thompson said. “Honestly, I don’t even care about the points and rebounds, I just want to do what I can do to get a team win.”

“I thought him moving and guys looking for him — there was a couple of times in transition when he ran the floor and got some offensive putbacks,” Corey Thompson said. “I thought tonight he did a quandary of things; he was running the floor, he was getting offensive rebounds and he was making his free throws too.”

Antonio Arnold and Theophilus Setzer each scored 13 points for St. Pauls, Tykeem Oxendine had 11, Chris Bryant added nine and Jamarcus Smith netted seven.

Makhi Arthur scored 15 points for Red Springs, Isaiah Oxendine had 13 and Tim Hammonds scored nine.

“(Arthur) played through adversity the entire time since (Kaedon Porter) went out,” Patterson said. “He took over the whole entire team, put everybody in their positions, and I just feel bad for him because it’s his last year, and we made the playoffs the last three years and to not make it his senior year is devastating.”

St. Pauls led 8-1 after the first 5 1/2 minutes, holding Red Springs only to an Arthur free throw in the span; Red Springs closed to an 11-8 defifcit by the end of the first quarter.

Red Springs briefly led 16-13 after two 3s from Isaiah Oxendine, and after St. Pauls used a 6-0 spurt to take a 19-16 lead, Red Springs answered with another Isaiah Oxendine triple to tie the score. Wilkins’ 3 a minute later tied the game before St. Pauls’ pivotal half-ending run.

St. Pauls lost both meetings against Fairmont by 22 points, but will now have a postseason chance against the Golden Tornadoes, who shared the Southeastern’s regular-season title.

“It’s a win-or-go-home situation and Fairmont’s a really good team, they’re playing at home, co-champions of the conference,” Corey Thompson said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. Whenever we’ve played them we’ve struggled with our turnovers, so I’m hoping we continue to get better and hopefully Wednesday we can take care of the ball in a hostile environment.”

Red Springs will see a disappointing season come to an end. Forfeits of would-be victories over Midway will potentially be the difference between the Red Devils qualifying for the state tournament or not; the team entered play Monday at 34th in the RPI rankings for the 2A East Region, with 32 playoff spots available.

“We’ve had the most bizarre season I’ve ever been a part of as a player, all my years from recreation through college, and as a coach, from the college level back to the high school level,” Patterson said. “We lost five key guys that had big playing time.”

In Monday’s girls tournament action in the Southeastern, No. 5 Red Springs earned a 36-34 win at Midway, advancing to play No. 1 Fairmont in Thursday’s semifinals; No. 2 St. Pauls will play No. 3 Clinton, who topped No. 6 West Bladen 47-35 on Monday, in the other semifinal game.