Half Hollow Hills needed a jumpstart after a flat three minutes to end the first half.

Who better to provide the spark than Long Island’s all-time leading scorer?

Anthony Raio opened the second half with two goals to help top-seeded Hills pull away in its 20-9 win over No. 5 Smithtown East in a Suffolk Class A boys lacrosse semifinal at Half Hollow Hills West on Tuesday.

Hills (18-0), the reigning Suffolk A champion will defend its title against No. 2 Northport at 4 p.m. Saturday at East Islip Middle School.

Raio entered the game tied with Glenn’s Matt Triolo for the record with 265 goals. His first goal of the game with 3:57 left in the first half gave him sole possession of the record. Raio had six goals and five assists, leaving him with 271 goals.

“(Triolo) is one of my club teammates, so now I have bragging rights over him,” Raio said. “I had zero goals and four assists late in the first half, so the record wasn’t necessarily on the forefront of my mind. It’s obviously good to have those accolades, but credit to all my teammates. They’ve assisted me plenty of times, so I wouldn’t have this record without them.”

Raio originally broke the record held by Jeff Cohen of Syosset (260) on May 15 when he reached 262 goals. A day later, Triolo scored seven goals in Glenn’s final game of the season to reach 265. Raio tied Triolo with three goals on May 22.

“He’s a very special player. Everything he gets, he works his tail off for,” coach Connor Hagans said. “It’s great for him to do it at home in his last game on this field.”

Raio’s hot start to the second half set Hills on a 7-0 run that ended with the UNC commit scoring off an assist from James Bruno for a 17-7 lead with 10:15 left in the fourth.

Zach Marco scored four of his five goals in the first half, helping Hills open a 10-4 lead in the second quarter. Following Raio’s record-breaking goal, Jack Reddock won the ensuing faceoff and dashed down the field to score a goal just seven seconds later for the first of three straight Smithtown East to cut Hills’ lead to 10-7 at halftime.

Hills’ defense had a strong response, holding the Bulls scoreless for the first 15:31 of the second half. Sal Santoro made 15 saves in front of Jake Casamento, Sal Caiazzo and Ben Vogt.

“We couldn’t do anything we do on offense without them,” Marco said. “You see when they find a rhythm, we get going on offense as well. They stop the ball, we score. We’re an orchestra, we play together.”

Brendan Carroll made 14 saves and had two assists, Teddy Baratta had three goals and Luke DiMaria had two goals and an assist for Smithtown East (11-7).

Bruno and Luke Bradley each had three goals and two assists and Ryan Chung had a goal, an assist and 15 faceoff wins for Hills, which is looking to return to the Long Island championship game, where its season ended last year.

“The expectation is a state championship, so this is just another step on the way,” Raio said. “We’re gonna work as hard as we can to get past where we did last year.”