BLUE HILL – George Stevens Academy had more turnovers than points during the first quarter of its boys basketball game against Hancock County rival Ellsworth on Monday night.

But it quickly regrouped, worked the ball inside and rallied for perhaps its most satisfying victory of the season, a 47-41 decision that ended Class B Ellsworth’s five-game winning streak and provided Class C GSA with a bundle of Heal Points.

“This is a big win for us and hopefully it will get us rolling,” said senior center Chaz Gray. “We played the way we should be playing. We played like this last year, but at the beginning of this season we kind of lost it. I think this is a big step for us.”

Gray and frontcourt mates Sam Bridges and Collin Henry combined for 36 points – on 16 of 22 shooting from the field – and 16 rebounds as 11-3 GSA rebounded from a disastrous first quarter in which its nine turnovers against Ellsworth’s full-court pressure led to a 15-6 deficit.

“This was a real good wake-up call,” said GSA coach Dwayne Carter. “At the end of the first quarter I let them have it, and they responded pretty well, I thought. They came back, and once they got going they finally played the way they played last year.”

Gray worked the low post for 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second quarter as GSA made a concerted effort not to settle for long-range shots, something that worked against the Eagles in a 62-46 loss at Ellsworth in early January.

Gray’s work helped GSA rally within 26-23 by intermission, then Bridges took over, scoring six points in the third quarter to help his team take a 33-30 lead.

“We wanted to get it inside because they’re a relatively small team and they just couldn’t match up with us size-wise,” said Bridges, who made all six of his field-goal attempts for the game and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. “We proved that tonight for sure.”

GSA built a 39-34 lead on a jumper by Henry (10 points, five assists) with 6:06 left in the game before going scoreless for the next 4 minutes, 20 seconds.

But 11-4 Ellsworth couldn’t capitalize, managing just two free throws and a low-post jumper by junior guard Corey Dewitt during that stretch to draw within 39-38.

Gray finally countered with an inside basket, and Henry hit two free throws as GSA assumed a 43-38 edge with 1:32 remaining.

Dewitt, who finished with game-high totals of 20 points and eight rebounds and scored all 11 of his team’s fourth-quarter points, responded nine seconds later with a long-range 3-pointer.

Ellsworth then got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead after a missed free throw by Henry, but Chris Archer’s 3-pointer off a feed from Dewitt bounced off the back of the rim, and GSA closed the game out with two free throws by Blake Wessel, and a steal and layup by Caleb Owen.

GSA 47, ELLSWORTH 41

Ellsworth (11-4) Geo. Stevens (11-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Katsiaficas 3 13 2 3 8 Peake 1 8 2

Jellison 1 4 0 0 3 Henry 4 8 10

Dewitt 7 19 3 4 20 Wessel 0 1 2

Allen 1 1 0 0 2 Bridges 6 6 12

Coombs 0 0 0 1 0 Gray 6 8 14

Archer 0 4 0 0 0 Owen 1 5 2

Britt 2 3 0 0 4 Smith 1 1 3

Karst 1 5 2 4 4 Gordon 1 2 2

Dow 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 49 7 12 41 Totals 20 39 11 47

Ellsworth 15 26 30 41

George Stevens 6 23 33 47

3-pt. goals – Ellsworth (4-22): Dewitt 3-11, Jellison 1-2, Katsiaficas 0-2, Karst 0-3, Archer 0-4; GSA (0-5): Henry 0-1, Owen 0-1, Peake 0-3

JV: Ellsworth 49-34

Attendance: 400 (est.)