Overtime of Tuesday’s FAA Tournament quarterfinal-round game between top-seeded Brunswick School and eighth-seeded Hopkins School was Ethan Long time.

Long made the overtime quarter his time to shine.

A 6-foot-2 junior guard, Long scored all 15 of Brunswick’s points during overtime, while finishing with 31 points for the game in leading the No. 1-seeded hosts to a well-earned 66-58 win over No. 8 Hopkins in the FAA quarterfinals. The defending FAA Tournament champion Bruins (9-1 record in the FAA) advanced to Thursday’s 5 p.m. semifinals, where they will host fourth-seeded Hamden Hall Country Day School at 4 p.m.

Indeed, during the postseason teams rise to the occasion and raise their level of play as the Bruins witnessed the Hilltoppers do in Tuesday’s quarterfinal-round matchup.

“In the playoffs of course, anything can happen, it’s like March Madness in college,” the difficult-to-defend Long said. “They came to play. We knew we had to keep playing our game and hustling. We knew we were going to come out on top. We knew that we were destined to win this game, so we just kept playing hard.”

Long totaled 20 points during the second half and overtime and converted five 3-pointers for the all-important game.

Sophomore point guard Jack Stevens scored 15 points with three 3-pointers and junior center Matty Augustine added nine points and powerful defensive play in the low post for the Bruins (11-10 overall).

The home team led 30-21 at halftime, before Hopkins () staged a second-half comeback to force overtime.

“It was definitely a tough game today,” Augustine said. “They played really well today, they’re a good team, they were making their shots. We weren’t playing that we usually do.”

Thursday was certainly a busy and memorable day for Augustine. On Thursday morning he announced that he will continue his academic and football career at the University of Notre Dame at Brunswick’s Baker Theater with his classmates and family in attendance.

Freshman guard Brandon Jean scored five points, while junior power forward Jaylen Pray had four points and sophomore forward Connor Robinson added two points in the winning effort.

Hopkins was boosted by senior guard Will Hensel’s team-best 26 points. Hensel tallied 19 points in the second half and overtime, rallying the visitors with his perimeter shooting – he swished three 3-point shots.

“As a team we worked so hard to get here and once they were hitting their shots, we knew we had to keep playing our game – talk on defense and run our sets,” Long noted.

Senior guard Benjamin Simon had nine points for Hopkins, which was defeated by Brunswick, 41-31, in a defensive battle during the regular season.

It was all Ethan Long in the overtime period for the Bruins, as he took and made, big shots. Regulation ended with the score tied at 51-51, then Long gave the Bruins the lead for good.

Overtime began with Long swishing a 3-pointer from the right side. He then threw down a dunk after making a steal, putting the hosts ahead, 56-51. After a Hopkins basket, Long delivered again, converting a 3-point shot from the left win, upping the Bruins’ advantage to 59-53.

Hopkins closed to within 59-58 on a pair of free throws by Hensel with 1:51 left in overtime. Long then made two foul shots and on the ensuing possession, smoothly hit a step-back fade away 3-pointer, giving Brunswick a 64-58 lead with less than one minute left to play.

“Once it got to that point, I was like, ‘I’m ending this game in overtime,” Long said. “I had to step my game up even more and shut this down.”

Hopkins forced overtime when guard Justin Wang (7 points for the game) calmly converted a foul line jumper with 15.1 seconds to go in the second half.

Hamden Hall advanced to play Brunswick in Thursday’s semifinals by downing fifth-seeded Greens Farms Academy, 66-52 in the tournament’s quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Greenwich Country Day School also continued its successful season. The Tigers topped seventh-seeded St. Luke’s School 70-54 to advance to the FAA semifinals, where they will host No. 3 Masters School Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Brunswick and Greenwich Country Day faced each other in the 2023 FAA Tournament final, with the Bruins capturing the title.

The Bruins beat their semifinal-round opponent Hamden Hall, 61-52, during the regular season.

“Hamden Hall is a great team, a gritty team and we’re going to come in with the same mindset,” Long said. “We are ready to give it our all. It’s always good being at home, it’s family here, so we feel comfortable playing here.”

“We just have to step it up the next game and come out with more energy to start the game,” the 6-7 Augustine said.