Backcourt injuries are starting to have an effect on the Big East Class B boys basketball world, with two key guards currently on the sidelines.

Ellsworth sophomore Corey Dewitt suffered a broken right wrist Monday while the Eagles were playing Cheverus of Portland in the Maine Mall Holiday Classic tournament at the Portland Expo.

And Chris Carlin, a senior point guard for Presque Isle, has been sidelined since Dec. 18 with an elbow injury suffered during the Wildcats’ 63-50 loss at Mount Desert Island.

According to Eagles’ coach Dan Clifford, Dewitt was fouled while attempting a third-quarter layup, and broke his wrist while bracing for his fall after the shot.

Dewitt left the game, then returned momentarily before leaving the game for good.

He currently is wearing a hard cast on the wrist. That cast will be removed after four weeks, and doctors then will determine if and when he can return to action this season.

Dewitt was a second-team All-Big East B selection after averaging 17.3 points per game as a freshman, and he has been one of the leaders of this year’s team along with junior forward Andy Tracy and sophomore guard Demetrios Katsiaficas.

Ellsworth, now 3-2 and idle until a Jan. 6 game against George Stevens Academy at Blue Hill, lost to Class A power Cheverus by just one point (57-56) at the Portland tournament, then defeated Poland 47-36 and lost to Gorham 53-34 the next two days without Dewitt in the lineup.

“It was good that we had some games without Corey in the lineup instead of getting back to the regular season without him and not knowing what to expect,” said Clifford.

Carlin, a returning starter for coach Tim Prescott’s club, Carlin has been the primary ballhandling presence on a Presque Isle team that has one of the taller front-courts in Eastern B featuring 6-foot-6 senior center Matt Fowler and 6-5 junior forwards Greg Whitaker and Chris Coffin.

Presque Isle is now 3-3 this season after Thursday’s 47-46 loss at Foxcroft Academy.

Eastman takes shot at records

Tyler Eastman’s most recent shot put performance sent Old Town High indoor track coach Rod White to the record books.

There he found that the Class B state record for the event is 55 feet, 11 inches – a mark that has stood since 1979.

But at the rate the 6-foot-5, 300-pound Eastman is throwing, that standard may have a short-lived future.

Eastman opened the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League season on Dec. 20 by breaking a 20-year-old league record in the event, with his best of 52-11, snapping the 52-10 thrown by former Orono High standout Joe Trefethen in 1984.

On Wednesday, the Old Town senior obliterated his own record by nearly a foot, with a best of 53-101/2 during a meet at the University of Maine field house. He followed that up with two more throws that would have tied his Week 1 EMITL mark.

“It’s been surprising,” said Eastman. “I was just hoping to get over 50 feet a few times this year, and break my previous best from last year.”

“He’s really starting to get his technique down and getting some speed going across the circle,” added White.

What makes Eastman’s success all the more impressive is that he is relatively new to the sport. He has just one season of previous indoor track experience, as a sophomore, when his best was 46-10.

“It was his first year out, and he didn’t really have a clue about technique,” said White.

He also threw during outdoor track last spring, placing second at the 2004 Class B meet with a best of 50-31/4.

As his technique has become more refined, the results have followed. Through two meets and 12 throws this winter, Eastman has topped 52 feet six times, and his shortest throw has been 50-6.

It’s an effort that already has produced an assault on the EMITL record books, and that assault remains in progress.

“Based on last spring and the fact he’s gaining more experience, I thought he had a chance at the [EMITL] record this winter,” said White. “But I thought it might come at the end of the season, not the first meet of the year.”

Rams win holiday tourney

The Bangor High boys basketball team took the week off from regular-season competition, but won three straight games to capture the Capital City Hoop Classic at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Rams defeated Lewiston 71-34 and Mountain Valley of Rumford 63-40 before edging Kennedy Catholic of Somers, N.Y., 61-58 in the championship game Wednesday night.

Junior forward Mark Socoby scored 20 points and senior guard Aaron Gallant added 18 in the title game. Socoby and senior center Andrew Trundy represented Bangor on the all-tournament team.

Bangor (3-0) returns to regular-season action Tuesday with a home game against John Bapst, then plays its first regular-season road game Friday night at South Paris against 3-0 Oxford Hills of South Paris.

Oxford Hills, which resumes action at Brunswick on Tuesday, was rated the No. 1 team in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference according to a preseason coaches’ poll.

The Vikings are coming off a second-place finish this week in the Maine Mall Holiday Classic tournament at the Portland Expo.

Cony honors Callahan

Every year the Cony of Augusta girls basketball team takes time from its annual Capitol City Hoop Classic tournament to honor a special contributor to the program.

This year’s honoree, Brian Callahan, came all the way from Wisconsin, where he easily manages to keep up with the Rams – he runs the team’s Web site, www.conygirls.com.

Callahan, who served as an assistant coach to Paul Vachon for 20 years before moving to the Midwest last year, started the site a few years ago. The team faxes results to Callahan after every game.

“He enjoys keeping in touch with us that way,” Vachon said.

The Rams flew Callahan to Maine for the tournament, held this week at the Augusta Civic Center.

Callahan, who worked as an e-mail administrator for Central Maine Power for 17 years, started the Cony site a few years ago. He tracks game scores and posts the rosters and photos, both team portraits and game action pictures. The site also contains information about past Cony teams and records.