In front of a packed Bernard Parady Gymnasium on Saturday, January 19th the MDI Boys Basketball Team defeated the Ellsworth Eagles by a score of 57-45. Both schools were well represented with fans, and the MDI team was led out of their locker room by a student dressed as a Trojan and 8 students body painted in Trojan green spelling out TROJANS! It's what makes high school basketball great in Eastern Maine!

MDI Student Body in Trojan Green against Ellsworth (1/20/13 Photo Courtesy Walter Churchill)
MDI Student Body in Trojan Green against Ellsworth (1/20/13 Photo Courtesy Walter Churchill)
loading...
Ellsworth Eagles Fans at game against MDI (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Michelle Mahon)
Ellsworth Eagles Fans at game against MDI (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Michelle Mahon)
loading...

MDI got out to a quick lead in the 1st Quarter. Jon Phelps made a basket and the free throw after he was fouled and it was 3-0 MDI with 7:43 remaining. Colin Mooers' 2 pointer made it 5-0 MDI with 6:29 left. Ellsworth was on the board with 6:15 remaining when Bruce St. Peter's shot went in, and it was 5-2. Mooers scored followed by two baskets for Ben Walls and with 2:52 remaining in the 1st Quarter, MDI led 11-2. St. Peter went 1-2 from the free throw line for Ellsworth with 2:45 left making the score 11-3. Walls 3-pointer swished through with 1:45 left and it was 14-3 and the quarter ended with Mitchell Domagala scoring for Ellsworth. End of the 1st Quarter MDI led 14-5.

Ellsworth cut the Trojan lead at the start of the 2nd Quarter. With 6:41 left Steven Mahon sank a basket and Griffin Nightingale went 1-2 from the free throw line and with 5:03 remaining MDI led 14-8. Teams then traded 3-pointers, first by Ben Walls for MDI followed by Brandon Braley for Ellsworth and it was 17-11 MDI with 4:14 remaining in the half. Adam Gray went 1-2 from the free throw line for MDI and Jon Phelps hit a 3-pointer for MDI with 3:45 left and MDI was up by 10, 21-11. With 3:09 left Mahon's 2 cut the lead to 8, 21-13 but Gray extended it back to 10 for MDI with his basket with 2:15 left 23-13 and that's how the 1st half ended, MDI up 23-13.

Ellsworth's Griffin Nightingale and MDI Colin Mooers fight for the ball (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Michelle Mahon)
Ellsworth's Griffin Nightingale and MDI Colin Mooers fight for the ball (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Michelle Mahon)
loading...

Scoring heated up in the 3rd Quarter! In the first minute, 8 points were scored, 2 by Abe Philbrook for MDI, 2 by Braley for Ellsworth, Phelps went 2-2 from the free throw line for MDI and Josh Bean scored 2 for Ellsworth and with 7:06 remaining it was 27-17 MDI. Ellsworth cut the lead to 7 after Mahon went 1-2 from the free throw line and Nightingales 2 went in, and with 5:44 left, MDI led 27-20. But Philbrook scored back to back baskets for MDI and with 4:56 left MDI led by 11, 31-20. Teams traded free throws, Mahon went 1-2 and Phelps went 1-2 and with 4:30 left MDI was still up by 11, 32-21. Ellsworth then  went on a 5-0 run as Nightingale sank a basket, and Mahon a 3-pointer and with 2:58 remaining MDI led 32-26. Woofie Kaiser went 2-2 from the free throw line for MDI, followed by a Philbrook 2 and a Walls 2, and just like that with 1:57 left in the 3rd Quarter, MDI's lead was 12, 38-26. Ellsworth wasn't done, as they answered with a 6 point run, as Bean went 2-2 from the free throw line, followed by Mahon 1-2 and with 1:06 remaining Domagala drained a 3-pointer and it was 38-32 MDI. Walls went 2-2 from the free throw line for MDI follwed by Brandon Braley going 1-2 from the free throw line for Ellsworth and with 47.8 seconds left, MDI led 40-33. Scoring in the 3rd Quarter ended with Andrew Davis scoring for the Trojans and after 3 Quarters, MDI was on top 42-33.

Jon Phelps Drives to the Basket Against Ellsworth (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Walter Churchill)
Jon Phelps Drives to the Basket Against Ellsworth (1/19/13 Photo Courtesy Walter Churchill)
loading...

The 4th Quarter began with Phibrook going 1-2 from the free throw line for MDI and it was 43-33. Adam Gray's 2 pointer went in, but he missed the free throw and MDI was up top 45-33. Braley's 3 pointer brought Ellsworth to within 9 points 45-36 with 6:15 left. With 6:01 left, Nightingale picked up his 5th foul for Ellsworth, and Philbrook went 1-2 from the free throw line. Teams then shot free throws as both teams were over the limit. Mooers went 2-2 for MDI, Mahon 2-2 for Ellsworth, Bean 2-2 for the Eagles, and Gray 2-2 for MDI and with 4:42 left, MDI's lead was 10 points, 50-40. Ben Walls sank a basket with 3:10 remaining and MDI was up 12, 52-40. Colin Mooers fouled out for MDI with 3:02 left and Domagala went 1-2 from the free throw line making it 52-41. Bean's 2 for Ellsworth cut the lead to 52-43. Phelps basket make it 54-43 as he missed the free throw and it was an 11 point lead with 1:30 left. Braley's 2 with 1:40 left cut the lead to 9 54-45, but MDI finished the scoring when Gray went 2-2 from the free throw line and Philbrook went 1-2 from the free throw line and the final score was MDI 57 Ellsworth 45.

MDI played much of the 3rd and 4th Quarter without Jon Phelps who had picked up 4 fouls. They were without the services of Keegan McKim while Ellsworth was without Jeff Weeks who had broken his nose earlier.

According to stats kept by Ernie Clark of the Bangor Daily News MDI had 25 turnovers in the game and outrebounded Ellsworth 39-24. Ellsworth was 4-25 from 3 point land

With the victory, MDI improves to 9-2 and has 3 games coming up this week, all at home. They play Foxcroft Academy, Monday afternoon, Martin Luther King Day at 4:30, Presque Isle, Friday night, January 26th at 7:30 and Caribou Saturday afternoon January 27th at 2:30. The Foxcroft Academy and Presque Isle games will be on WDEA AM 1370 and WDEA Internet Radio. With the loss, Ellsworth falls to 4-8 on the season. Their next games are next weekend, when they play host to Caribou on Friday January 26th at 8 PM and Presque Isle Saturday January 27th at 2:30. The Ellsworth - Presque Isle game will be on WDEA AM 1370 and WDEA Internet Radio.

More photos of the game may be seen here, courtesy of Walter Churchill.

Box Score

1

2

3

OT1

T

Ellsworth Eagles (Boys)

5

8

20

12

45

MDI Trojans (Boys)

14

9

19

15

57

Ellsworth

#NameGFGM2PM3PMFTMFTAPFPTS
3Alex Braley11010003
4Griffin Nightingale12201255
10Brandon Braley13210047
11Josh Bean12204428
12Mitchell Domagala12111316
15Jeff Weeks10000000
20Jacob Maguire10000100
21Dylan Young10000000
22Nick Bagley10001221
23Steven Mahon1321510412
30Bruce St.Peter11101223
32Michael Brooks10000000
33Cody Delconte10000200
34Derek Look10000000
TOTALS11410413262045

MDI

#NameGFGM2PM3PMFTMFTAPFPTS
10Jon Phelps132146411
12Keegan McKim10000000
14Chris Clemens10000000
20Abe Philbrook144036111
22Colin Mooers12202256
24Adam Olearcek10000000
30Stephen Hanscom10000000
32Andrew Dalton10000000
34Ben Walls164222116
40Chris "Woofie" Kaiser10002212
44Isaac Wallace10000010
50Adam Gray12205749
52Andrew Davis11100032
TOTALS11815318252057

More From 92.9 The Ticket