Eagles defeat GSA Ellsworth utilizes balance, pressure

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ELLSWORTH – The Ellsworth boys basketball team has ridden the offense of junior guards Corey Dewitt and Demetrios Katsiaficas to a quick start in the Big East Conference Class B ranks this season.

But the Eagles used a balanced approach Thursday night in a 62-46 victory over George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill.

Dewitt scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Katsiaficas added 15 points and five assists, but they were just two of four Ellsworth players to score in double figures. Senior forward Matt Karst contributed 11 points and five rebounds, while senior center Louden Jellison scored 10 points and grabbed eight boards.

Ellsworth also got solid contributions off the bench from junior guard Chris Archer and senior forward Brad Allen.

“We’ve talked a lot about getting contributions from other people besides Dem and Corey, and the other guys stepped up tonight and it was good for us,” said Ellsworth coach Jay Brown.

Ellsworth will take its 6-1 record to Aroostook County on Saturday for a major test at undefeated Presque Isle. The only blemish on the team’s record so far this winter came in its earlier trip to the County, a 50-47 loss at Caribou.

Class C George Stevens Academy fell to 6-2 despite a huge game from senior forward Collin Henry, who had game-high totals of 26 points and 17 rebounds. But while Henry shot 12 of 20 from the field, the rest of the team made just 5 of 40 shots, or 12.5 percent.

“We missed a lot of shots,” said GSA coach Dwayne Carter. “You can’t miss layups against a good team, and defensively I didn’t think we played as well as we usually do.”

Ellsworth took control when it sped up the pace of the game, primarily with full-court defensive pressure.

“That’s what our game plan was, to run them,” said Dewitt, “because we knew they were a bigger team. We just wanted to run them, get them tired, and see what happens.”

That accelerated pace helped force seven GSA turnovers in the second quarter, when Ellsworth outscored GSA 14-7 to take a 27-17 halftime advantage.

“Because of our size we have to try and uptempo everything and if we can go, we’re going,” said Brown. “It worked out well tonight. That’s a good team, they’re well-disciplined, but I thought we did some good things against what they wanted to do.”

Ellsworth then came out and hit six of its first eight shots after intermission with a 3-pointer and two other jumpers by Jellison, a three-point play and a follow-up basket by Karst and another second-chance basket by Katsiaficas accounting for a 14-2 run good for a 41-21 lead midway through the third period.

“Their centers go out and shoot 3s,” said Carter. “I was pretty much trying to pack it in on some of those players, but they were just hitting shots from outside.”

The Ellsworth lead was 49-32 entering the fourth quarter, but GSA opened the period with seven unanswered points to pull within 49-39 on a follow-up basket by Henry with 3:47 left.

ELLSWORTH 62, GSA 46

George Stevens (6-2) Ellsworth (6-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Peake 2 10 2 2 6 Doe 0 2 0

Henry 12 20 2 3 26 Royal 0 0 0

Wessel 0 10 1 2 1 Ktsiaficas 3 16 9 10 15

Bridges 2 3 4 5 8 Jellison 4 10 0 0 10

Gray 1 4 0 0 2 Dewitt 6 16 4 16

Owen 0 9 0 0 0 Whitney 0 0 0 0

Smith 0 0 1 2 1 Taylor 0 0 1

Gale 0 0 2 2 2 Allen 1 1 0 2

Larry 0 1 0 0 0 Coombs 0 0 0

Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 Archer 2 5 5

Lawson 0 0 0 0 0 Britt 1 1 2

Astbury 0 1 0 0 0 Karst 4 6 11

Dow 0 2 0 1 0

Totals 17 60 12 17 46 Totals 21 57 17 24 62

George Stevens 10 17 27 46

Ellsworth 13 27 45 62

3-pt. goals – GSA (0-20): Larry 0-1, Peake 0-2, Dow 0-2, Henry 0-4, Owen 0-5, Wessel 0-6; Ellsworth (3-12): Jellison 2-3, Archer 1-3, Katsiaficas 0-1, Karst 0-1, Dewitt 0-4

JV: Ellsworth 54-47

Attendance: 550 (est.)