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ELLSWORTH – It wasn’t too hard to find the not-so-underlying key factor in Tuesday night’s second round boys basketball preliminary playoff game.
The Ellsworth boys shot 59 percent from the field for the game, Mount Desert Island shot 30.8. End of story.
Thanks to perfect performances from junior guards Steven DeWitt and Adam Smith, neither of whom missed a single shot all game, the sixth-seeded Eagles left No. 11 MDI in their backwash as they posted a 65-46 victory and secured a reservation for a Friday night quarterfinal appearance at the Bangor Auditorium.
DeWitt scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half as he finished the game 7-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line.
“We didn’t force a lot of shots and we knew Steve was on fire so we just kept getting him the ball,” said senior center Matt Boles.
Smith had eight of his 10 points in the first half and was 5-for-5 from the field.
“I just think it was one of those nights, especially in the third quarter when everything was dropping,” said Ellsworth coach Dan Clifford, whose Eagles improve to 10-9. “It didn’t matter what we threw up.”
The Eagles thrived in the odd quarters. After shooting 75 percent in the first quarter, Ellsworth sunk to 1-for-7 in the second only to shoot with even more blistering accuracy (9-for-11) in the third as it turned a 26-21 halftime lead into a 48-30 edge with a 17-5, game-deciding run in the final six minutes of the third.
“That’s really where the game was won. The way our team is, we just can’t overcome that kind of deficit,” said MDI coach Wilton Jones, who called two timeouts 75 seconds apart to try and staunch the bleeding. “We were hoping to get into the fourth quarter being just five or six points down, but we were a quarter away.”
And now the Eagles are two days away from a 9:05 p.m. Class B tourney showdown with No. 3 Bucksport, who they split a pair of games with in the regular season.
“They’re a tough matchup,” said Jones, whose young Trojans finish up 8-12 after losing the second of three games with the Eagles. “They’re a dangerous team going into this tournament.”
The Eagles used their athleticism to outrebound the bigger Trojans 26-23 overall.
“Our bigger kids did a good job on the boards and that’s important against them because that’s how they beat Rockland, with offensive rebounds,” Clifford said.
Boles and freshman forward Jock Morse were the keys to Ellsworth’s inside effort as they held MDI big men Jesse Dyer and Greg Fellis to a combined 14 points and nine rebounds.
Clifford also got breakout efforts from his bench as senior forward Joe Richards scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
“That’s the best game he’s played since he’s been in an Ellsworth uniform and I’m really happy for him because it’s been a struggle for him all year,” Clifford said. “He’s always been a great talent, but he’d make poor decisions on offense and miss defensive assignments, but he made all the right decisions tonight.”
Despite MDI’s concentrated defensive effort on Derek Awalt, Ellsworth’s senior guard still put up 13 points with a game-high five assists.
Despite sickness and an ear infection which forced him to miss the last two practices, senior guard James Hopkins was the Trojans’ lone double-digit scorer with 12 points. Andrew Joseph dished out five assists.
Eagles 65, Trojans 46
Mount Desert Island (8-12) Ellsworth (10-9)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Tripp 0 2 0 0 0 Richards 5 2
Jones 1 3 0 0 3 King 0 0 3
Greenleaf 0 1 0 0 0 Bradford 0 0
Hopkins 3 10 4 4 12 Mayo 1 2 2
Fernald 0 1 0 0 0 DeWitt 7 7 19
Joseph 2 9 0 0 5 Murray 0 0 0
Dyer 3 12 0 1 7 A.Smith 5 5 0 10
B.Colbeth 2 6 3 5 8 Awalt 3 8 13
Steeves 1 1 0 0 2 Morse 0 0 0
Carr 1 2 0 0 2 Sawyer 0 0 0 0
Fellis 3 5 1 2 7 Morse 1 4 2
R.Colbeth 0 0 0 0 0 C.Smith 0 0 1
Boles 1 2 1 3
Totals 16 52 8 12 46 Totals 23 39 17 25 65
MDI 13 21 30 46
Ellsworth 17 26 48 65
3-pt. goals: MDI (6-11): Hopkins 2-3, Joseph 1-1, B. Colbeth 1-1, Jones 1-2, Dyer 1-3, Tripp 0-1; Ellsworth (2-6): DeWitt 1-1, Awalt 1-3, Bradford 0-1, Mayo 0-1
Attendance: 1,000 (est.)
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