ELLSWORTH, Maine — Offensive basketball can be a thing of beauty when the ball goes through the net.
So the Ellsworth Eagles must have felt like they were in an art studio rather than Katsiaficas Gymnasium after their 76-59 Class B North boys basketball victory over Washington Academy of East Machias on Tuesday night.
Coach Peter Austin’s club shot an impressive 63 percent (31 of 49) from the field for the game, including a lights-out 78 percent (18 of 23) during the second half to break open a competitive, entertaining contest.
“They’ve been a little streaky at times against some other teams, but we knew they were a good shooting team,” said Washington Academy coach Barry Terrill. “I thought three of the [second-half] shots they made I attribute to us leaving them open, but on the rest of them, we had a hand in their face and they just made tough shots.”
Ellsworth, which began the night ranked eighth in the division, improved its record to 8-4 with its most pointworthy victory of the winter. Washington Academy fell to 9-2.
“That’s a huge game for us,” said Ellsworth senior forward Nick Bagley. “We hadn’t beaten any of the top teams, we had beaten the teams below us. This is a big Heal points win.”
Ellsworth’s second-half offensive onslaught was led by Bagley, who initially worked inside to get the feel of the ball going through the hoop, then worked his way outside with devastating consequences for the Washington Academy defense.
Bagley made all but one of his nine shots after intermission, including all four of his 3-point attempts en route to a game-high 22 points.
“With the first few shots inside, I could see them going in, and that helped me when I went outside,” he said.
Unfortunately for Washington Academy, its best offensive streak of the night came while Ellsworth was at its hottest — with the teams combining for five consecutive 3-pointers during a 78-second span late in the third quarter as the Eagles maintained a 45-37 lead.
“It was a three-for-all,” said Austin.
But Ellsworth never stopped scoring, breaking Washington Academy’s full-court pressure to help trigger a 27-point fourth-quarter outburst that included 13 points from Bagley and a 6-of-6 effort from the free-throw line from junior guard Bryce Harmon.
“We knew going in that they were going [to] press pretty much the whole game,” said Austin, “and once we broke it, we seemed to get some nice, easy looks off it.”
One reason for Ellsworth’s shooting accuracy was its passing game. The Eagles amassed 20 assists, including six from senior forward Cooper Henderson and five from Harmon.
Harmon also scored 14 points, and Henderson’s other contributions included seven rebounds and five points.
While Bagley led Ellsworth’s perimeter shooting effort, senior center Bruce St. Peter dominated the inside play at times. He grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and scored 17 points, including 10 in the first quarter on 5-of-5 shooting as the Eagles and Raiders battled to a 14-14 tie.
“We wanted to get Bruce going early,” said Austin. “He had been struggling as of late, and we wanted to get him some good looks, and our guard play was exceptional in getting him those looks.”
St. Peter also was strong defensively against Washington Academy standout Stefan Miliojevic, particularly during the first half when the senior international student managed just two points before sitting out the final few minutes of the second quarter after drawing his second foul.
“I challenged Bruce last night because [Miliojevic] is a good player,” said Austin, “and I thought Bruce stepped up to the challenge.”
Miliojevic tried to keep his team close after intermission when he scored 18 of his team-high 20 points. Classmate Janko Stojanovic added 13 points for the Raiders, and Cameron Varney scored eight.
