Edward Little’s Wol Maiwen looks at the basket to take a shot as Lewiston’s Dido Lumu plays defense during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — Edward Little had an enviable choice in Wednesday night’s rivalry tilt with Lewiston — pound the ball inside to Wol Maiwen or keep riding the hot hand of senior Darby Shea.
After Shea came roaring out of the gate with 10 points in the first quarter, the Red Eddies chose the latter. He rewarded them with a game-high 32 points and EL cruised to a 72-45 win.
Shea followed up a 26-point performance last Friday against Oxford Hills by scoring from beyond the arc (four 3-pointers), attacking the hoop and getting to the charity stripe (eight free throws).
“We’ve just got to move the ball,” EL senior guard Tyler Morin said. “We move the ball and the right person is going to get the shot. Tonight it was Darby.”
Maiwen still had a strong night of his own with 18 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and another crowd-pleasing dunk courtesy a pass off the backboard from Shea. He later came down awkwardly while grabbing a rebound, hobbling to the bench with an apparent ankle injury, but returned to the game a few minutes later.
Hunter Dickinson led Lewiston with 11 points while Ali Omar added 10.
EL (2-0) jumped out to a 20-8 lead thanks in large part to Shea’s hot start. Lewiston worked its way back to within seven with an Abdinur Mohamed 3-pointer and a nice up-and-under hoop by Derek Foy.
But a Shea 3-pointer and the alley-oop to Maiwen sparked an 18-5 Eddies’ run to end the first half with a 42-22 lead.
The Eddies widened the lead to 24 shortly after Maiwen limped to the bench. But Lewiston chipped away with a Dickinson drive, a Hassan Hussein banked 3-pointer and a Dickinson buzzer-beater to pull within 53-39.
“Sometimes we tend to ease up a little bit,” Morin said. “We just have to work on going 100 percent the whole time. And (coach Mike Adams) makes sure we know that.”
“We got a little complacent, I think, offensively and defensively in the third quarter,” Adams said. “We stopped being aggressive and forcing the things we wanted to. I don’t think we’re feeding the post as well as we should, but Wol’s got to do a little better job of getting position.”
Lewiston coach Tim Farrar thought the Blue Devils could have made a bigger dent if they had taken better care of the ball.
“I liked how we competed in that third quarter,” he said. “But a 5-0 run could have been a 10-0 run. We had some turnovers, and if you don’t shoot the ball, it won’t go in. (EL) is a good team, and you can’t be down 20 and come back very often.”
EL regained control with a 6-0 run to start the fourth, sparked by drives to the hoop by Shea and Ibn Khalid, a Lewiston transfer who had nine points and seven rebounds against his old team.
“I was looking to go to the basket because that’s what I’m good at, but if I didn’t have the lane, I could kick it out to Darby because he had the hot hand,” Khalid said.
Edward Little’s Darby Shea shoots the ball as Lewiston’s Ali Omar tries to knock the ball away during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Edward Little’s Ahmed Abidir looks to pass the ball to a teammate as Lewiston’s Hunter Dickinson chases behind him during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Edward Little’s Ahmed Abidir goes up for a basket while being blocked by Lewiston’s Dido Lumu during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Edward Little’s Tyler Morin looks to teammate as Lewiston’s Abdinur Mohamed plays defense during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Edward Little’s Ibn Khalid looks to the basket as Lewiston’s Ali Omar pressures him during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Edward Little’s Ibn Khalid shoots the ball during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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