BANGOR, Maine- Jackson Curtis scored a game high 26 points on Friday night, to lead the #2 Ellsworth Eagles to a hard fought 58-51 Maine Principals’ Association Class B North boys quarterfinal basketball win over the #7 Winslow Black Raiders at the Cross Insurance Center.
Ellsworth (16-3) scored the first five points of the game with Curtis scoring underneath and from the perimeter with a three-pointer. Winslow responded with five points of their own to tie it, before Curtis regained a five point lead with another one underneath and also another from the arc to make it 12-7. The Eagles led 12-9 after the opening eight minutes. Winslow took their first lead of the night at the start of the second on baskets from Colby Pomeroy and Andrew Poulin. The Black Raiders biggest lead was three. Curtis once again made his presence felt underneath scoring to give the Eagles back the lead, and Austin Harris buried a three-pointer to make it 19-15. Ellsworth led by three 24-21 at halftime.
Ellsworth took their biggest lead of the night in the third quarter by scoring eight of the first 11 points in the period, and another Harris three-pointer made it 32-24. An 8-0 run near the end of the quarter though gave Winslow the lead again. Back to back three-pointers by Nicholas Girard make it 41-39 Black Raiders. Curtis converted a three point play to give the Eagles the advantage headed to the fourth quarter 42-41. Pomeroy and Reid Gagnon both had baskets to open up the final quarter to make it 45-42 Winslow, but two free throws from Darby Barry and a three-pointer by Hunter Curtis pushed Ellsworth back into the lead for good 47-45. The Black Raiders couldn’t quite convert to get back into a tie or a lead, trailing by three or four points for most of fourth. J. Curtis hit 5-6 from the line in the final 33 seconds to help Ellsworth advance to a Wednesday night 7 p.m. semifinal against #3 Washington Academy. The Eagles shot 11-17 from the line in the win, while the Black Raiders were 3-6.
J. Curtis added 10 rebounds and five assists to go along with his game high point total in the Ellsworth win. Barry had 12 points and four rebounds. H. Curtis chipped in nine points. Harris finished with seven. Connor Crawford and Adam Inman each contributed two points each.
Pomeroy led Winslow with 19 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in the loss. For the senior Pomeroy he also finished two points shy of the 1000 point pleateu for his career (998). Jacob Berard added seven points. Poulin, Girard, and Josh Reynolds each had six points a piece. Reynolds also added 12 rebounds. Reid Gagnon also contributed four points, while Holden Dart had three. The Black Raiders outrebounded the Eagles 25-22, while committing 10 turnovers compared to nine for Ellsworth. Winslow finishes their season at 12-8.
