BANGOR — When Chris Braley let fly his final 3-point attempt of the day, every soul in the Bangor Auditorium was thinking the same thing. This game was heading to double overtime.
And why not? The Nokomis junior had made almost everything else Saturday morning.
Instead, Braley’s shot bounced high off the rim, and Ellsworth escaped with a 76-73 win over upset-minded Nokomis in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal.
No. 2 Ellsworth (19-0) will face No. 6 Gardiner (14-5) in the semifinals. Nokomis, the No. 10 seed, ended it’s best season in eight years with a 12-8 record.
Braley had one of the best individual games in the tournament in some time, scoring 43 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.
“He’s probably a Division I player,” Ellsworth Coach Peter Austin said. “We had no answer for him.”
Added Andrew Austin, who defended Braley much of the game: “It’s definitely a challenge, but a good challenge to have.”
The only time Braley did not score was in overtime. Jordan Carter made a free throw with 33 seconds left to give the Eagles a 76-73 lead. After Ruel Libby missed a 3-pointer for the Warriors with 15 seconds left, Cote Card had a chance to clinch the victory for Ellsworth when he went to the line with 8.9 seconds remaining.
“Cote’s normally a 70 percent foul shooter. He said he wasn’t nervous,” Coach Austin said.
Card (18 points) missed both free throws, however, setting up Braley’s game-tying attempt.
For a while, it looked as though Nokomis was going to pull off the upset.
“We made a couple lackadaisical defensive plays in the fourth quarter,” Braley said. “They made a few extra plays than we did, and that’s pretty much the difference in the game.”
The Warriors led 33-25 at halftime and by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but Ellsworth rallied. Thomas Sawyer came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers for Ellsworth in the fourth quarter, the first giving the Eagles a 54-53 lead with 6:22 left in regulation and their first lead since the final minute of the first quarter.
“I think we played defense a little better, and we were hitting our shots and playing as a team all around,” said Andrew Austin, who led Ellsworth with 23 points.
A Sawyer 3-pointer gave Ellsworth a 60-56 lead with 4:56 left, but Spencer Hartsgrove answered with a 3-pointer and Braley made a pair of free throws put the Warriors back in front.
The teams traded the lead four times in the final four minutes of regulation. They combined to make 14 3-pointers, including four each by Braley and Hartsgrove (12 points). Sawyer (12 points) made four for the Eagles.
“The kids, I thought they really laid themselves out. I thought they played really hard. We made a couple of mistakes, but overall, when they jumped on us, we’d come back,” Nokomis Coach Carl Parker said. “I couldn’t ask any more. I’m so proud of the kids. They really did a great job.”
Travis Lazarczyk – 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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