An overwhelming second-half display from the No. 7-seeded Grant Lancers carried them to an upset victory over the No. 2-seeded El Camino Royals in the Los Angeles City Section Division 1 Quarterfinal Saturday evening.

Ronald “Champ” Merrill led the Lancers with 22 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter, as Grant outscored the Royals by 16 in the second half.

“I always want to go out and win,” said Merrill. “I’m not trying to go home. I just wanna win for my team.”

Grant, who has only dropped one game on the road to City Section opponents this season, started the game hot. Back-to-back threes from Merrill and Harout Posheyan capped off a 12-0 run midway through the first quarter run to give the Lancers a 14-5 lead.

“Grant was physical, Grant was tenacious, tough on the boards,” said Royals head coach Colin Jamerson. “When you constantly allow a team to get offensive rebounds, it gets a little demoralizing. Rebounding was a problem tonight overall.”

Three free throws right at the end of the first quarter from Charles Eleri cut the deficit to six and gave the Royals life heading into the second quarter. El Camino carried their momentum and outscored the Lancers 16-7 despite several gritty defensive plays from Grant’s Daniel Hernandez and Jeremiah Suriel.

“We got a little tougher,” said Jamerson. “We played aggressive and a little quicker. We attacked them, we got aggressive and then we went on to have that run.”

The Lancers’ 26-25 halftime lead quickly grew in the third quarter, as they kicked off the second half with a 6-0 run to put themselves firmly in the driver’s seat. The Royals didn’t record a field goal until 2:05 remained in the third quarter, by which time Grant had established a 40-31 lead.

“I thought we were doing a good job in the first half, we just couldn’t get shots,” said Lancers head coach Tarek Abdelsameia. “We knew that the first five minutes of the second half would give us an opportunity to separate ourselves or make it a close game, and our first five minutes was pretty good defensively, kind of how we started the game.”

They would remain dominant throughout the fourth quarter, scoring 25 points and cruising to a 69-52 victory.

“We understand that it’s win or go home,” said Abdelsameia. “We have a choice to make every game, either give it our full effort and possibly win or not and go home. That’s why I think we’re playing with so much confidence. We’re not worried about what the implications are, we’re just worried about winning the game at the end.”

Grant advanced to the Division 1 semifinal Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m., where they will take on No. 6-seeded Jordan.