AUBURN — Take the court with “Edward” emblazoned across your chest and “Little” beneath the uniform number and you already bear the burden of an active, powerful boys’ basketball tradition.

Wear the last name Leary between your shoulder blades on the warm-up jersey and the pressure could be a double whammy.

It’s enough to be brothers — Bo is a senior, Quin a sophomore — and hear all the comparisons and the incessant questions about sibling rivalry.

Throw in a brother and a cousin that were part of an undefeated regular season in 2007. Add another cousin that was a centerpiece of back-to-back Eastern Class A championship teams.

How do you deal with that?

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Bo Leary insisted. “With EL, it’s the school and the community. The family is important, but they’re part of those things, too. I don’t really feel pressure from either.”

Maybe that’s the calm or self-assurance of experience talking.

Quin Leary, who physically could be mistaken for his brother’s fraternal twin, despite the two-year difference, is more apt to confess his awareness of being watched.

“I know there are a lot of expectations,” he said. “It’s good pressure. It makes me work harder.”

Whether it’s a stressful idea or not, the Class A consensus is that if the Red Eddies are to make a run at a third consecutive regional championship or an elusive state title, they’ll lean heavily upon the Leary brothers.

There’s no point in denying it, really. Last year’s postseason performance won’t allow that.

Bo won an Eastern Maine tournament MVP award that could have gone to any of four EL stars. The 6-foot-4 forward racked up 28 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in a KVAC championship win over Brewer. He scored 11 when EL defeated Brewer for the fourth time in the regional final, and he led the Red Eddies with 19 in their 55-50 state game loss to Cheverus.

Quin, one of the first two players off the bench as a freshman, played every second in overtime of a thrilling semifinal victory over Bangor.

“I didn’t think I’d be playing that big a role,” Quin said.

This year, 6-3 Quin likely moves into the starting lineup.

Bo will spend more time at center, the position vacated by the graduation of cousin James Philbrook.

James Philbrook and Bo Leary understood that concept in seasons past, taking the invisible baton from big brothers Kyle and Cam, respectively.

“We definitely need some people to step up,” Bo said. “Not to fill the shoes of Jimbo (Philbrook) and Yusuf (Iman), but to step up in different ways and make an impact.”

The brothers got a taste of that burden last December, when Philbrook was hobbled by an early-season toe injury.

“They work so hard. They’re strong kids. They had a great summer in the weight room,” Edward Little coach Mike Adams said. “Now it’s just getting the legs and getting a feel for what we’re going to do offensively.”

Quin dedicated the spring, summer and fall to working on his physical strength and his outside shot.

That’s the natural process of finding his own niche as a player after entering the program as the latest in a long line of smart, skilled branches on his family tree.

“It was pretty intimidating at first, especially every day in practice playing with Bo and Jimbo,” Quin said of his freshman experience. “I got used to it after a while.”

EL and its go-to guys already have seen the challenge that awaits them this year.

In a recent scrimmage at Camden Hills, the Class B power Windjammers had the luxury of assigning their 6-foot-6 senior stars, Keegan Pieri and Tyler McFarland, to blanket the Learys.

“Quin came in last year being essentially unknown with James, Bo and Yusuf taking on the top three or four defenders. Now he might get the other team’s first or second defender on him,” Adams said. “He’s going to take a little while this year to figure out what he can and can’t do offensively and what we need him to do. That’s to be expected, and that would be true whether you’re a senior, a junior, a sophomore or a freshman.”

Bo’s scoring and rebounding numbers are bound to increase if the Eddies are to make another playoff run.

What he knows will impact EL even more is his role as an emotional leader, something that fell on the shoulders of Philbrook and Iman last season.

“It’s looking pretty similar to last year,” Bo said. “Last year we were a close team. This year it will be another close team. We’re always hanging out together.”

That goes double for the brothers, who were dribbling basketballs in tandem when most of their peers were learning how to walk or tie their sneakers.

Adams attributes the boys’ self-discipline on and off the court to their parents, Justin and Pam.

“They never have any unreal expectations. In today’s day and age, with all the parental involvement you have and kids not being able to just be kids, they are the cream of the crop,” the coach said. “Somehow it got mentioned that when Bo and Quin were in elementary school, they were not watching TV in the afternoon because that was time to do their homework. They learned hard work at a young age.”

They’ve also learned unselfishness.

Bo’s hopes of playing college basketball — seven recent Eddies remain active in the game — probably hinge on his ability to play small forward. He already has given Adams his commitment to play power forward or center all winter, knowing that it affords EL its best chance to win.

And if you’re looking for sibling rivalry, well, you might search all winter and come up empty.

“It’s definitely more good than bad. Actually it’s not bad at all,” Quin said of sharing the court with Bo. “It makes me work harder, the competitiveness. It’s definitely good playing with him, because I grew up playing with him.”

“It’s all business,” Bo added. “We don’t look at it as who’s scoring more or who’s getting more rebounds. We’re both part of the team. We both need to find our roles and do our thing.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link