Andy Tracy lifts Eagles by Hawks

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ELLSWORTH – The Ellsworth Eagles spent the first half of Thursday night’s regular-season basketball finale against Hermon trying to solve the Hawks’ 3-2 zone defense.

Andy Tracy spent the second half exploiting it with a near-perfect shooting exhibition.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward made the first seven shots he took after intermission and scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half as Ellsworth pulled away to a 66-48 Senior Night victory.

“Coach [Dan Clifford] give me a little speech and told me to step it up in the second half,” said Tracy, who added a game-high 12 rebounds. “And I wanted to step up because it was the last game of the year at home, and we didn’t want to lose because we’ve been undefeated here all season.”

The win avenged a 72-63 loss at Hermon on Jan. 13, and also set up a likely third meeting of the season between the teams in the Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinals, with Ellsworth set to finish fourth in the division, one spot ahead of 12-6 Hermon.

Before that game, the Eagles will face Foxcroft Academy in Tuesday’s Big East Conference Class B championship game at the Bangor Auditorium.

Senior point guard Joey DeWitt scored 17 points for the Eagles, including three baskets and an assist to spark a 13-0 run midway through the first half that helped Ellsworth come back from an early 10-2 deficit.

The Eagles eventually moved out to a 21-14 lead before Hermon rallied behind senior guard Jesse Keith (25 points, 14 in the first half) to forge a 25-25 tie at the break.

Then Tracy, 1 of 3 from the field in the first two periods, got untracked. He scored six points and DeWitt added four in the third quarter as Ellsworth attacked the heart of the Hermon zone.

“We had trouble against Foxcroft’s zone [Monday during a 62-51 loss], so we worked on it a lot in practice,” said DeWitt. “Watching the film we knew their inside was open so we kept pounding it down to the foul line and it opened up shots for everybody.”

Ellsworth took a 41-34 lead into the fourth quarter, and once Keith picked up his fourth foul less than a minute into the period, the Eagles pulled away. Tracy scored 12 points – including a 3-point shot and a three-point play inside – to highlight a 19-4 blitz that gave Ellsworth a 60-40 cushion entering the game’s final three minutes.

“When Keith had two fouls and then three fouls and he was guarding Joey, we just wanted to penetrate and try to get fouls on him,” said Clifford. “When he had to come out with four fouls, we really made a run.”

Freshman guard Corey DeWitt added 12 points and seven rebounds for Ellsworth.

EAGLES 66, HAWKS 48

Hermon (12-6) Ellsworth (14-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tarr 0 0 0 0 0 Katsiaficas 0 0 0

Cayford 2 5 1 3 6 C. DeWitt 5 14 2 2 12

Adams 2 5 0 0 4 J. DeWitt 7 13 3 3 17

Keith 9 18 5 6 25 Berry 0 1 0

McGown 0 0 0 0 0 Tracy 8 11 20

Duplisea 0 9 2 2 2 Jones 3 8 8

Shorey 2 10 0 0 4 Britt 2 4 4

Gould 2 3 0 1 5 Conners 1 1 2

Deabay 1 1 0 0 2 McErlain 0 1

Danforth 0 1 0 0 0 Ryan 0 0 0

Harding 0 1 0 0 0 Jordan 1 2 2

Totals 18 53 8 12 48 Totals 27 57 10 66

Hermon 10 25 34 48

Ellsworth 13 25 41 66

3-pt. goals ? Hermon (4-9): Keith 2-3, Cayford 1-1, Gould 1-2, Shorey 0-1, Duplisea 0-2; Ellsworth (3-13): Jones 2-5, Tracy 1-3, C. DeWitt 0-2, J. DeWitt 0-3

Attendance: 900 (est.)

JV: Ellsworth 78-52