BANGOR – Friday was a bad day to be a top seed at the Eastern Maine Class B basketball tournament.

Both the No. 6 Ellsworth Eagles and No. 7 Hermon Hawks notched quarterfinal upsets as two of the top three seeds were sent packing.

Ellsworth, now 11-9, used resilient rebounding and sweet shooting to knock off No. 3 Bucksport 65-57 Friday night after Hermon, now 12-8, used dogged defense and focused foul shooting to upend No. 2 Belfast 72-64 in the afternoon.

The Hawks and Eagles will meet in a 3:35 p.m. Wednesday semifinal.

Despite the teams’ seedings, Friday night’s game figured to be a solid matchup as Ellsworth and Bucksport split two games in the regular season.

It looked anything but, shooting-wise, early as they combined to shoot 8-for-26 in the opening quarter as Bucksport took a 13-9 lead.

“We usually handle pressure well, but it might have been what they were doing with their matchup zone,” said Eagles coach Dan Clifford. “The key was we rebounded well later on.”

Both literally and figuratively. The Eagles outrebounded the Golden Bucks 36-19 overall and followed up a 4-for-12 shooting effort in the first quarter with 10-for-11 in the second, 6-for-7 in the third, and 2-for-3 in the fourth.

“Their kids were just hot. It was their night,” said Bucks coach Dave Gonyar. “They out-quicked us for a period of time, but we didn’t knock shots down and they did, plus they were more aggressive on the boards.

“Once they got the momentum, they wouldn’t let it go.”

Ellsworth snatched that momentum with a 12-1 run in the second quarter and took a lead (26-18) it would never relinquish.

Junior guard Steve DeWitt led the Eagles’ run with five of his 18 points. He also keyed the defense by sticking on Bucks’ star guard Jason Harvey (23 points) like flypaper all night and helped the Eagles’ rebounding effort – which resulted in a 36-19 advantage for the game – with seven.

“We were two games under .500 four games ago and we haven’t lost since,” DeWitt said. “I don’t know what it is, but we’ve been a lot more aggressive and we’re doing really well with it.”

Senior guard Derek Awalt revived the Eagles’ offense with eight of his 18 points in the second quarter. He also had eight boards and four assists. Awalt also held Abram Allard to two points.

The other member of Bucksport’s big offensive trio, junior swingman Corey Guilford, managed 12 points against Adam Smith and Seth Mayo. Harvey was 7-for-25 from the field.

Junior forward John Morse had a solid, all-around game with 14 points, 10 boards, three assists, and two blocks to help Ellsworth overcome 19 turnovers. The Bucks had eight, all in the second half.

Turnovers and foul shots were the key Friday afternoon, as the Hawks shot a scorching 87 percent (27-for-31) from the line overall, and 18-for-19 in the fourth quarter. Belfast was 7-for-17 from the line.

“You could see it on our faces out on the floor,” said coach Butch Richards, whose Lions wind up 14-5. “We were doing good things, but we weren’t getting rewarded on the scoreboard.”

The 12-8 defending Eastern Maine champs are eager to battle Ellsworth in Wednesday’s semifinal.

“We came in 11-8, but we feel like a higher seed,” said Hawks coach Rick Sinclair.

The game’s key stretch came late in the third as the Lions roared back from a 48-40 deficit to go up by two with a 10-0 run, but during the run, Belfast went 0-for-5 from the line – foiling a possible three-point play and an even rarer four-point opportunity.

The two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter before Hermon took the lead for good (61-58) on a three-point play by junior forward Ron Lane (18 points), who had the unenviable task of guarding 6-foot-10 Lions center Chad Kosmo.

Kosmo had a monster effort with 22 points, 20 rebounds, and six blocks, but two quick fouls in the fourth limited his aggressiveness late. Hawks star Ryan Garland helped offset Kosmo’s effort with a team-high 23 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

After Belfast made it 61-60 with 4:15 to play, Hermon took advantage of two Lion turnovers to score six unanswered points. Belfast committed 11 of its 21 turnovers in the second half. Hermon had only three of its 11 in that frame.

Unsung junior forward Wayne Shaw had 18 points and five boards for the Hawks, while Lions junior Colby Horne had 16 points.

Eagles 65, Golden Bucks 57

Ellsworth boys (11-9) Bucksport (13-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Richards 4 6 0 0 8 Beeson 1 1 3

King 0 0 0 0 0 LaLonde 2 2 0 4

Bradford 0 0 0 0 0 Mercer 0 0 0

Mayo 0 0 3 4 3 Porter 0 0 0 0

DeWitt 4 6 9 10 18 Allard 1 7 0 2

Murray 1 1 0 0 2 Nason 0 3 0 0

A.Smith 0 1 0 0 0 Cough 0 0 0 0

Awalt 7 11 2 2 18 Guilford 3 13 12

Joc.Morse 0 0 0 0 0 Harvey 7 25 23

Sawyer 0 0 0 0 0 Ogden 3 4 3 9

Joh.Morse 5 7 4 8 14 Athrtn-Dow 2 4

C.Smith 0 0 0 0 0 Sullivan 0 0 0

Boles 1 1 0 2 0

Totals 22 33 18 26 65 Totals 19 57 15 19 57

Ellsworth 9 32 47 65

Bucksport 13 28 38 57

3-pt. goals: Ellsworth (3-8): Awalt 2-5, DeWitt 1-2, Richards 0-1; Bucksport (4-12): Harvey 2-5, Beeson 1-1, Guilford 1-4, Allard 0-2

Hawks 72, Lions 64

Hermon boys (12-8) Belfast (14-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Schacht 2 6 2 2 6 Robbins 0 2 0 0

Kenney 0 2 0 0 0 Pendleton 2 2 4

Garland 5 20 13 13 23 Crofoot 1 7 0 3

Shaw 5 8 4 6 14 Morley 1 5 2 4

Lane 6 8 6 7 18 Cowan 2 8 0 6

Ouellette 2 2 2 3 8 Duval 1 3 4

Moulton 1 1 0 0 3 Hayes 0 3 0 0

Horne 5 8 3 16 Herbig 2 7 0 Reynolds 0 0 0 0 0

Kosmo 11 18 0 22

Totals 21 47 27 31 72 Totals 25 63 7 17 64

Hermon 16 33 48 72

Belfast 22 35 48 64

3-pt. goals: Hermon (3-6): Ouellette 2-2, Moulton 1-1, Garland 0-3; Belfast (7-18): Horne 3-5, Cowan 2-3, Herbig 1-2, Crofoot 1-4, Morley 0-1, Hayes 0-1, Robbins 0-1, Duval 0-1