LEWISTON – Troy Barnies had a chance to get frustrated while relegated to the Edward Little bench during the entire second quarter Tuesday night. Lewiston had a chance to capitalize on the 6-foot-6 junior’s absence and expand what was already a double-digit lead.
Neither happened, and after that, the Blue Devils didn’t have a ghost of chance to deny Barnies and the Red Eddies a 53-45 boys’ basketball victory in an emotionally charged, midseason Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference showdown.
Despite missing the final seven minutes of the second quarter with three fouls and playing the entire fourth period one whistle away from fouling out, Barnies played like he’d been granted a presidential pardon and finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
“That was a great win for us in a hostile environment,” said Barnies, who scored nine points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth to rally the Red Eddies from a 31-26 halftime deficit.
Left with no answer for Barnies except to double down and leave senior sharpshooter Ryan Goss unchecked on the perimeter, Lewiston watched EL shoot 60 percent for the game and 6-for-8 in the fourth quarter.
Goss finished with 12 points, including a pair of second-half treys. Kyle Giguere (six second-quarter points) and Eric Prue (seven assists, four steals) also helped the Eddies compensate for Barnies’ time on the pine.
“It’s nice to have a player of Troy’s caliber,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “But to have a night where the other kids step up and show that they’re good players is huge for us.”
Joe Stachowiak led Lewiston with 17 points, but EL shut out the 6-5 senior center and just about everyone else in the fourth quarter.
EL (5-4) won for the third time in its last four starts. Lewiston (6-4) has lost four straight.
“Games aren’t won during games,” said Lewiston coach Pat Blais. “They’re won at practice. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and work on what made us successful at the start of the season.”
The Red Eddies’ rally wasn’t bad for a team that committed 31 turnovers, and one that fell in an 8-0 hole before it even crossed mid-court due to Lewiston’s full-court pressure. That disparity reached 15-4 with 4:40 left in the quarter.
Later, what might have been a momentum-swinging dunk by Barnies cost EL dearly when its star was whistled for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim. It also counted as Barnies’ second personal foul and drew heated disapproval from the maroon-clad half of the throaty, bipartisan crowd.
“I had two guys underneath me and didn’t want to fall on them,” protested Barnies. “So I held on, which you’re allowed to do in that situation.”
Jon Fournier hit both the resulting free throws to give the Devils a 19-10 lead at the end of the quarter, and a quick offensive foul in the second quarter took Barnies out of commission.
Lewiston looked prepared to turn it into a laugher, but the Devils missed six free throws in the period. Goss, Giguere, Prue and Kyle Philbrook also engineered a 10-0 run shortly after Barnies’ departure.
“When you have a player of that caliber on the bench, you have to take advantage of the opportunity,” Blais said, adding that his team didn’t attack Barnies aggressively enough when he returned.
EL took its first lead, 38-37, on a power move by Barnies with 2:07 remaining in the third. Jon Mancine’s drive tied it at 40 to punctuate the period, but Lewiston didn’t score again until the Eddies ran off 11 straight points in the first five minutes of the fourth. The Devils missed six shots and committed eight turnovers during that telling stretch.
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