OLD TOWN- Chance Mercier had 27 points on Tuesday afternoon, helping the Ellsworth Eagles to a hard fought 60-58 victory over the Old Town Coyotes at MacKenzie Gym in a battle of Big East boys basketball Class B unbeatens.
The Ellsworth defense was able to slow down the potent Old Town offense in the first half. The Coyotes only held one lead over the first 16 minutes, 4-2 very early. Mercier controlled the boards and put in 12 points in the second period as the Eagles held a 31-18 lead at the halftime break. The hosts came out in the third red hot from the floor, and trailing 33-21 Old Town hit four consecutive three-pointers two of them by Grayson Thibeault to pull even 33-33. A jumper by Thibeault would give the Coyotes their first lead since early in the game 35-33 with four minutes to go in the quarter. Mercier would pull the guests even on a three-pointer, and Ellsworth ran off 11 of the next 15 points to take a 44-39 advantage into the fourth. Down 53-42, Old Town made one more run at it. Two free throws by Brayden Brown, a three-pointer from Brown, a layup and pullup jumper by Thibeault, and then another bucket from Brown capped off an 11-0 run to tie it 53-53 with 2:15 remaining. Mercier pushed the Eagles back in front with a four point play just 10 seconds later, but then another score from Brown and a three-pointer by Thibeault gave the Coyotes their final lead 58-57 with 24.6 seconds left. The game winning play came with 13.2 seconds showing on the clock when Miles Palmer for Ellsworth was fouled shooting a three-pointer. Palmer made the second and third from the charity stripe for a 59-58 lead. Old Town turned the ball over with their final chance on a traveling violation with just over one second remaining. Mercier got fouled and hit the first and missed the second at the line, and all the Coyotes had time for was a desperation heave from the other end of the court by Emmitt Byther at the horn that was well off the mark.
Mercier added 14 rebounds to his point total in the win for 5-0 Ellsworth. The Eagles outrebounded Old Town 35-25. Eamon MacDonald added nine points and four rebounds, while Peter Keblinsky and Palmer contributed six points a piece. Thibeault led Old Town (3-1) in the loss with 23 points on the strength of five three-pointers on the day. Brown had 14 points and five rebounds, and Gabe Gifford put in 11 points to go along with seven rebounds. Next up, Ellsworth will host Orono in another Big East showdown on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. while Old Town will be on the road at MCI on Thursday also at 6:30.
ELLSW (5-0) 12 19 13 16- 60
OTWN (3-1) 7 11 21 19- 58
Free throws- Ellsworth 11-19/Old Town 2-6
Three-point goals- Ellsworth: Mercier 2, MacDonald 2, Palmer, James-Chin/Old Town: Thibeault 5, Gifford 3, Brown 2
Recap and photos courtesy of Chris Lessner
