PLAISTOW – You just can’t go 15 minutes on the clock and hope to win a playoff game.

It’s a lesson the Hollis Brookline High School boys lacrosse team learned the hard way as the Cavaliers fell to host Timberlane, 14-9, in the Division II state quarterfinals on Saturday.

“I watched plenty of film on these guys. I felt like we were well-prepared for them,” said HB coach Domenic St. Laurent.

“They did some things to make it difficult on us. Their goalie played phenomenal. They did a really good job. Timberlane played great. Hats off to them.”

Up 6-4 early in the second quarter, Hollis Brookline saw the Owls grind out eight unanswered goals to build a 12-6 lead mid third quarter. The Cavs fought but were doomed by the dry spell.

“The goalie (Brady Marston, 19 saves) definitely played great. He was a key factor,” added St. Laurent. “We left some on the table in terms of our opportunities. He stole some.

Their defense played pretty well as a whole.

“We had a lot of turnovers, some cause by them, some uncaused. Possession is key in lacrosse. You need the ball to score.”

Jake Roy led Hollis Brookline offensively with four goals on the day. Joe O’Reilly netted a pair, including one of three unanswered second half goals in the second have as the Cavs closed the margin to 12-9 before ultimately bowing out.

Ben Dufoe, Andrew Torgersen and Hunter Hudzik had the others.

Timberlane’s Eric George led all scorers with seven goals, while Braidon Bowman had the hat-trick.

HB’s junior faceoff specialist had a huge day at the “X,” an advantage the Cavaliers just didn’t exploit.

“Justin did a fantastic job for us on the faceoffs, winning the matchups,” said St. Laurent. “We needed a little bit more in terms of possessing the ball after the initial faceoff to get us more opportunities.”

Hollis Brookline is now faced with the challenge of replacing five seniors – Hudzik, O’Reilly, goalie Scott Walsh (6 saves), Sal Vella and Garrett Sturges.

“It’s a tremendous senior group, all great kids, first-class competitors,” St. Laurent said. “You saw (Hudzik). He took two or three good licks and he kept coming. It’s a physically tough group. I was proud of their efforts throughout the whole season. They did a great job for us.

“A couple of the guys played a lot of minutes for us. That will be tough to replace them, but I think we’ve got guys coming up and guys that are ready to step up next year and make immediate impact. We’re just going to continue to build through the pipelines, continue to work with the guys individually and continue to keep chugging on.”