STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island Academy opened the ACIS playoffs with a convincing 71-48 quarterfinal win over visiting Berkeley Carroll on Monday in Dongan Hills.

Senior guard Danny Nowak led the Tigers with 21 points, and senior swingman Luke DeVito added 20 to help SIA advance to Wednesday’s semifinal matchup against Avenues. Junior Gabe Moschella chipped in 14 for the Tigers (19-4 overall, 12-3 ACIS).

Second-seeded SIA rode Nowak’s nine first-quarter points to take a 21-12 lead after the opening eight minutes. Meanwhile, Moschella and DeVito each hit a three-pointer in the first period, as the Tigers’ offense started clicking early.

“We played with some nice tempo to start the game,” Tigers head coach, Mike Mazella, praised. “Danny was effective getting to the rim and drawing fouls, and his aggressiveness was a key in setting the tone for us.”

The SIA defense, meanwhile, was doing its best to contain BC’s talented senior guard, Ackiee Brown, who led all scorers with 27.

“Brown is a tough match-up, and BC definitely tries to run their offense through him,” Mazella noted. “We just wanted to make him work for anything he got.”

Guards Ayden Howe (six points) and Johnny Elefterakis spearheaded the Tiger defensive effort, and guard Mike Belkin came off the bench to contribute five points and six rebounds.

“Saturday’s loss (to Sea in the SIHSL Tourney) was a tough one to swallow,” Mazella mused, “and we needed to come out today and establish our style of play early on. Our games against BC in the regular season were both one possession games, and I was happy to see us get the lead after the first period and then increase it as the game went on.”

The Tigers now take on the third-seeded Avenues, who split their regular season matchups with SIA. Game time on Wednesday is 5:45 PM with the winner advancing to Friday’s ACIS championship game at Grace Church.

Junior varsity

Tottenville 66, Beach Channel 63

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Lucas Souleidis poured in a game-high 28 points to lead the Pirates to a PSAL first-round playoff game against the visiting Dolphins on Monday in Huguenot.

No. 7-seeded Tottenville, which also received 22 points from Blair Tadros, advanced to the second round and will host No. 10 Brandeis later this week.

Souleidis’ big game included three three-pointers and a 9-for-11 performance from the free-throw line.

Tottenville head coach Brian Linner, however, referred to seldom-used reserve Malachi Jacobs as the game’s MVP after scoring seven fourth-quarter points, including a pair of corner triples.

Amier Alexander scored 20 points, including three treys, for the Dolphins.

Avenues 56, SIA 51

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Tigers dropped the quarterfinal contest against visiting Avenues.

Patrick Sheehan led SIA in scoring with 16 points, including four second-half three pointers. Rob Esposito added 12 markers, and Nathan Wildrick added 9.

The Tigers seemed to have things in hand with a 51-43 lead with just over 4 minutes left, but Avenues used three long-range treys in the final minutes to mount a 13-0 run and steal the victory.

SIA finished its season with an 8-10 record.