SALEM — If Salem was opponent the Woburn High boys basketball team was hoping to face in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Division 2 North tournament, just how good are the teams it didn't want to play?

The Tanners' season came to an end on Friday night as they dropped an 84-66 decision to Salem as Woburn, the sixth seed, couldn't slow down the No. 3 seeded Witches.

"Hey they're a great basketball team," Woburn head coach Duane Sigsbury said after the loss. "They have unbelievable athletes and they have a good chance to beat East Boston or Charlestown and get to the FleetCenter."

Woburn couldn't keep up with the Salem offense early despite matching their intensity, but the backcourt of Northeastern Conference co-MVP's Eric Groszyk and Dan Fraser were just too tough.

The Harvard-bound Groszyk finished with 29 points and 6 assists while Fraser (who is leaning towards Northeastern) had a quiet 16.

"They are both unbelievable players," Sigsbury admitted of the Salem duo. "But Groszyk's the glue that holds them together. If it wasn't for him they would be a normal team."

But the Witches (20-3) are far from a normal team. Salem can score points from anywhere on the court and when their 6-foot-5 Tufts University-bound center Pat Shea buried a 22-foot three-pointer to open the game, many of Woburn nation looked stunned.

Sigsbury handed out black Woburn t-shirts that said "Welcome to the WU" before the game as the locals traveled very well, but Salem's homecourt advantage is still second to none for big games.

Shaun Keeley came right down with a three of his own, but Fraser electrified the crowd with an incredible four-point play to give his team a lead they would never relinquish.

The Tanners hung tough to get the score to 19-14, but Salem went on a 10-0 run shortly after and even got the lead to 20 points on two separate occasions.

Trailing 45-26 late in the first half, Keeley gave the locals a glimmer of hope as he drained a three to end the half.

During the first half, Sigsbury tried as many combinations as he could on the floor, but none seemed to work. In the early stages of the second half, however, the fifth-year coach threw caution to wind and went young. Woburn inserted freshman Dan McLaughlin at point guard and fellow ninth-graders Mark Dwyer and Matt Welch also gave the Tanners a spark.

"Those guys played great," Sigsbury said. "Salem is a senior-laden team and we had freshmen and sophomores in there playing with them. We are only going to get better and learn from this."

It seemed the energy the younger players brought to the second half helped a 12-0 run by the locals forcing Salem to burn a timeout up 56-43. During the run it was the two McLaughlin brothers, Eric Skeffington, Shaun Keeley and Greg Colarusso on the floor.

Colarusso led the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but clearly showed he could play with the best in the state.

With the deficit only 13, Salem came back down with 11 minutes left in the game with their fourth alley-oop of the game as Fraser came off a screen and kissed the ball off the window.

Layups also did the Tanners in as they missed five easy ones in key stages while Salem made 16 in the game.

"Those layups we missed hurt us in the first half," Sigsbury admitted. "You just have to give Salem credit because they played a great game."

Mike McLaughlin (10 rebounds) cut it to 58-45 with 10:37 left, but Fraser scored on consecutive layups as he is Salem's fly guy on a shot. The Woburn crowd called him a cherry-picker, but the Witches scored six break-away layups as the Tanners couldn't get back on defense in time.

Part of the reason Woburn couldn't stop the home-run pass was they kept everyone in to rebound. Dan Velez, the 6-foot-1 slender power forward killed Woburn on the glass and chipped in with 14 points. Anytime one of the big three of Fraser, Groszyk or Shea missed, Valez cleaned up the glass and laid the ball in.

Groszyk made sure the lead got back to 20 as he sliced in the lane for layup with nine minutes left, but the dagger was his three-point play with eight minutes left that made it a 69-48 game.

Salem will now face East Boston Tuesday night in Chelsea as they will have a chance to avenge last season's north final loss to the Jets. Salem knocked off Charlestown last year in the sectional semifinal before losing to Eastie at Tsongas Arena.

The Tanners (14-9) talked after the game of this being a learning experience and Sigsbury has most of his team back next year. The obvious loss will be McLaughlin as he will take his 240-pound frame to Boston College next year on a football scholarship. But Colarusso and Keeley will be a great foundation next season.

The one thing that showed to be a weakness in the Salem game was handling the ball and next year the Tanners are going to need someone to step in solidify the point guard spot.

WOBURN (66) - Colarusso 5 5-7 16; Keeley 4 4-5 14; M. McLaughlin 5 1-3 11; Skeffington 1 0-0 3; Miller 1 0-0 2; Dwyer 2 1-4 5; Taranto 2 3-3 8; Welch 0 2-5 2; Stanley 0 0-0 0; D. McLaughlin 2 1-1 5; Rodriguez 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 17-28 66.

Salem (84) - O'Donnell 3 0-0 6; Valez 7 0-0 14; Shea 4 0-0 10; Fraser 7 1-1 16; Groszyk 10 7-11 29; Abreu 4 1-2 9; DeLaRosa 0 0-0 0; Lambert 0 0-0 0; Martinez 0 0-0 0; Burke 0 0-0 0. Totals: 35 9-14 84.

Halftime: Salem, 45-29.

3-point FGs: W-Keeley 2, Taranto, Colarusso, Skeffington; S-Groszyk 2, Shea 2, Fraser.