ELLSWORTH — Before a standing-room-only crowd in Katsiaficas Gymnasium on Saturday, the Trojans eked a 55-53 win after the Eagles had rallied to erase an 11-point lead and knot the score at 46-all with just over five minutes to go.

From the outset, the Eagles — playing without injured senior Kyle Haslam, their tallest player at 6-3 — struggled on the boards against the Trojans, who had a 28-7 edge for the game.

Even so, the Eagles — mostly on the strength of their outside shooting — kept the game close until the Trojans reeled off eight unanswered points on a jumper by Jayson Burke, and steal and score by Abe Philbrook and four quick points by Ben Walls.

Thomas Sawyer finally ended the scoring drought for the Eagles with a jumper and, after swapping baskets, the Trojans took a 28-20 lead off the court at halftime.

Back-to-back baskets by big Adam Gray gave MDI a 38-27 lead — its biggest of the game — midway through the third period.

But the Eagles battled back.

A three-pointer and a pair of foul shots by Sawyer to close out the third quarter cut the MDI lead to 42-38.

Gray scored on a rebound putback to open the final period, but Sawyer nailed another three-pointer and Nick Holt followed with a pair of foul shots, slicing the Trojan lead to a single point.

A rebound putback by Burke made it 46-43, but Steven Mahon tied it for Ellsworth on a three-pointer with 5:10 to go.

MDI went back up by four points on back-to-back rebound putbacks by Walls and Burke, and though the Eagles twice cut the lead back to one point, that was as close as they would get.

A three-point attempt by Sawyer from the corner was off the rim and a last-ditch try by Mahon for a game-tying bucket was off the mark as time expired.

“We got killed on the boards,” said Ellsworth coach Peter Austin. “I just wanted a shot at the end and we had a decent shot — it wasn’t a great shot — but it just rolled off the rim.”

Austin said Haslam’s presence in the lineup could have meant a lot. “I thought our kids played with a lot of heart. But they’re so big underneath that we just couldn’t contend with them,” he said of the Trojans.

The Eagles shot a strong 54 percent from the floor, connecting on 18 of 33 attempts. But they shot poorly from the foul line, netting just 12 of 22 free throws.

“In close games, foul shots and rebounding are the keys and that’s why they beat us,” said Austin.

Walls led all scorers with 23 points, Burke had 16 and Gray had 10 for the Trojans.

For the 8-3 Eagles, Sawyer had 19 points and Holt added 10.

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