After trailing the Blue Devils to start, the Edward Little boys’ basketball team got down to business in the second quarter Saturday afternoon. The Red Eddies turned the tide in a hurry and never looked back in a 65-57 win.
Lewiston built a three-point lead after the first quarter, but EL’s 8-0 run to start the second changed the game quickly.
“We were a little worried but we knew we’d get right back with Coach getting on us and stuff,” senior forward Kaleb Main said. “We started to relax and reversed the ball and moved it around and played as a team.”
By halftime, the EL lead was up to 31-19 and Lewiston was trying to keep pace. The Blue Devils got within six in the third, but watched the Red Eddies pull away again.
“Lew (Jensen) hit a couple,” Lewiston coach Tim Farrar said. “(Elijah) Roe hit a couple. Kaleb hit a couple. I thought we did alright, but there were one or two guys we didn’t focus on that hit big shots. I thought Mains played well and Roe played well. I thought we held Lew and Ian (Mileikis) in check. That’s why they’re really good. That’s why they’re undefeated. They’re more than just two guys.”
Main led EL (10-0) with 24 points. Jensen finished with 15 while Roe had 13. Lewiston (6-5) got 16 from Isaiah Harris and 12 from Ace Curry.
“Offensively, teams focus on Lew and Ian,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “We want to show that we’re much more than that. Kaleb was able to step up again and have a really great game. Elijah had a really solid game. There were some guys that came off the bench and gave a great effort.”
Lewiston came out strong and built the early lead. The Blue Devils were up by as many as 13-7 after a Tykeem Gaines fast break basket late in the quarter. EL got a jumper from Mains and a 3 from Jensen to close the gap. A Curry jumper gave Lewiston the 15-12 lead after the quarter.
“It didn’t start off very good,” Adams said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds in the first couple of minutes. We settled down a little bit throughout the game and did the things we wanted to do against them.”
Adams said he wanted his team to move the ball better and dribble less in the second quarter. EL wasn’t looking for cutters as well as he wanted. EL’s offense responded with a 12-2 run to start the second.
After Mileikis hit two free throws, Luke Sterling scored on a pass from Roe to give EL the lead. Main scored back-to-back to make it 20-15. After a Harris basket got Lewiston within three, Mileikis hit a free throw and Jensen hit a 3 for a 24-17 lead. EL then finished the half with seven straight. Roe hit a pair and Main drilled a 3 for the 31-19 advantage.
“Once you get that momentum, you keep it going,” Main said. “You feel good. The ball was going in and we were playing hard defensively.”
Lewiston shot just 1-for-12 in the second and had 10 turnovers.
“We do have our moments when we can’t score,” Farrar said. “Against really good defensive teams like EL, you’re going to have those moments no matter how well you’re playing.”
Lewiston made a run in the third and got within 35-29 with 3:07 left. After a pair of Gaines free throws, Harris scored off an inbounds pass and Ryan Bell scored on a drive. EL answered with six straight of its own. Roe hit a jumper. Then Mileikis and Main had baskets to bump the lead back to 42-30 after three.
“It felt like the third quarter of the girls’ game,” said Farrar, who watched the Lewiston girls’ get within nine in the third quarter against EL only to have the Red Eddies shooting prowess expand the lead again. “We chipped away and chipped away and it bounced right back to a bigger deficit than when we started. You look at it and think ‘gee, I thought we played really well there.’ That’s what shooters can do. That’s what really good teams do.”
EL expanded the lead in the third and were up by as many as 17. Roe had a three-point play and Jensen and Main had baskets during a 9-2 surge. Lewiston got a pair of 3s from Carter Chabot late in the fourth to cut the deficit to 59-49.
“They energy picked up as the game went on,” Adams said. “It’s a rivalry game. We were looking forward to playing them and they were looking forward to playing us.”
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