PORT HURON >> Tuesday night’s quarterfinal against Warren Lincoln couldn’t have started much better for Notre Dame Prep.

Colin Whalen had six early points, including a 3-pointer, and fellow senior Joey DeCasas, fresh off his program record of 45 points that helped beat Yale in last week’s regional final, had two buckets, getting the Irish out ahead of Lincoln 10-2.

“Guys were excited, clicking on all cylinders, had an extra bounce in their step,” Irish head coach Whitney Robinson said.

But few D2 teams have players with springs in their boots like the defending state champions, and the Abes ultimately had a chance to show off their ups plenty in a 49-30 win that confirmed their return to the Final Four.

“It’s a blessing,” Abes head coach Wydell Henry said. “I don’t take it for granted, because it’s hard to do. I’ve been doing this as a head coach for 13 years, man, and have an opportunity to play for a state championship, which every coach every year starts the season wanting to do, it’s a blessing for me and our program, and I’m just proud of them.”

Adding to the adversity, the program’s all-time scoring leader, senior Marcus Blackwell, exited early in the fourth quarter of the regional championship against Old Redford with a sprained ankle, leading to some speculation about whether he would be available for Tuesday’s game.

He wasn’t one of the three Abes that reached double-digit scoring, but he did suit up and finished with seven points.

“I knew it was going to be painful, but I just had to fight through it and come back,” Blackwell said. “It felt a little stiff in warmups, but I knew as the game got going that it would get easier.”

It did remain difficult for Lincoln (21-4) in general before things got relatively easier. The lead remained with Notre Dame Prep until Da’Marion Bozeman’s bucket put the Abes up momentarily 18-17 with six minutes to go in the second quarter.

Attribute the level of fight from Notre Dame Prep (14-11) to the pedigree of its players, who have won at the highest level, even if it hasn’t come on the hardwood.

“I have 10 state champions on the team with seven football players and three soccer players,” Robinson said. “So they’re champions, and that’s what got us here, right? And then we ran into more champions across the board from us (laughs). They were the better team tonight.”

Lincoln took a three-point lead into halftime after DeCasas, who scored a team-high 11 points, accounted for the only two scored by the Irish in the second quarter. After the Abes bumped it up to eight points, Whalen (nine points) helped bring it down to a handful at 29-24, where it remained for the final few minutes of the third quarter. But as time expired at the end of the third, Bozeman, long outside of the arc, threw up a desperation shot that drew him a whistle, and he knocked down all three shots to get it back to eight heading into the last period.

That turned out to be the catalyst for a big run by the Abes. Blackwell knocked down a 3-pointer to open the fourth, then a long pull-up jumper by Bozeman found the bottom of the net, resulting in a nine-point swing in roughly a minute.

It didn’t end there, either. Geon Hutchins got above the rim and gently deposited two points, and as the Irish continued to misfire from deep, Lincoln senior Chris Morgan put down his third or fourth one-handed slam of the night to give the Abes 13 points unanswered.

“I think in the first half, our guys were pressing a little bit, trying to get it done by themselves,” Henry said. “I told them if they were going to be successful then we had to play team ball. The second half, I told them to calm down, relax. It’s another game. Even though it’s a game that’ll take you to the Breslin, it’s another game. And we played very unselfish the second half. But shoutout to our defense. We locked in and gave up 30 points today. We gave up eight in the second half. That’s incredible for me, and it’s the reason why we’re standing here with a chance to go win another state championship.”

Even after Lincoln looked like it had it in the bag, the Irish refused to go down looking. Irish junior Sam Stowe broke up the unchecked run by the Abes by knocking down Notre Dame Prep’s first 3-pointer since the opening quarter, then hit another just under a minute later, making it 42-30 with 4:02 remaining.

But with no more scoring to trim the lead further in the next 1:30, the Abes really slowed it down, and finally the Irish were resigned to having to foul. As they did, they couldn’t connect on their next few shots from the perimeter, ending the hopes of a comeback.

“We dropped down a level (from the start) and couldn’t sustain that, unfortunately,” Robinson said. “They slowed us down and we couldn’t make a shot. They got going, and next thing you know, 49-30 is the outcome.

“(This run) wasn’t expected, right? We got started late in the season with football winning the state title. We had one practice and our games started. We got off to a slow start because guys were still in football shape, and it took a little while for them to get their basketball legs underneath them. We didn’t hit our stride until late in the season. We want to be peaking right around this time, which we did, so it was definitely a successful season. It was a season to be celebrated, and these five seniors were remarkable.”

Bozeman finished with a game-high 17 points to lead Lincoln. Morgan added a dozen and Hutchins added 10 in the win.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central (21-7), who reached the quarterfinals last season and lost in overtime in the D2 title game three years ago, will be the Abes’ opponent in Friday night’s semifinal. Tip-off for that game in East Lansing is set for 7:30 p.m.