North Stafford (23-3) plays at Osbourn (22-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday in a region semifinal. The teams scrimmaged at Osbourn in December.

The other semi, Gar-Field at Patrick Henry-Roanoke at 6 p.m. Thursday, is a rematch from a game this season. Gar-Field beat the Patriots, 69-57, in a holiday tournament.

North Stafford looked vulnerable in that third quarter Tuesday, when Potomac made it 45-37 on a driving basket by sophomore Randy Haynes. Wolverines senior guard T.J. Jones hit a three-pointer late in the third period and added a jumper early in the fourth to run the lead back to 13 and steady his team.

“I knew that the guard play that we have would do us justice there at the end,” said North Stafford Coach Brad Lear, whose team has won 11 straight. “Our guard play has been carrying us the whole season.”

The back court of Jones, juniors Lyndon White and Brandon Ravenel and senior Trejon McGee, a former two-guard now filling a need in the post, combined for 47 points. Junior Usie Miller added 10 points off the bench.

“I knew we had things under control,” said Ravenel, a star receiver on the Wolverines’ region titlist football team. “Good teams have runs and they had their run. We just had to bear with it and wait until it was over and get back in control.”

“That hole was just too deep to dig out of,” said Potomac Coach Keith Honore, whose team last week won the Cardinal District championship, handing Gar-Field its first loss. “But [we] showed a lot of character and a lot of toughness fighting the way [we] did. It just wasn’t our night.”

Potomac (17-7) beat Broad Run, 87-71, in the first round of the region tournament. Eight of its top 10 scorers this season were non-seniors.

“It is a group that in my mind overachieved this year,” Honore said. “In the beginning of the season, if you asked if the team could [reach the second round of regionals], I would have optimistically said, yes, of course, but realistically I wasn’t sure. We had a ton of inexperienced kids that worked really hard for us.”