Edward Little High School’s Ibn Khalid (23) dribbles the ball past Bangor High School’s Damien Vance during their game in Auburn on Tuesday. (Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal)
AUBURN — In a game of runs Tuesday night, Edward Little saved its longest and best for last.
The Red Eddies held Bangor without a field goal for the first 6:10 of the fourth quarter, outscoring the Rams 16-1 during that stretch, to emerge with a 59-49 win and snap a three-game losing streak.
Ibn Khalid led all scorers with 23 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals for EL (5-3), which got all of its scoring from four players, all of whom finished with double digits.
Wol Maiwen added 15 points, 10 rebounds and a couple of thunderous dunks in his first game back since missing the last two for disciplinary reasons. Darby Shea chipped in with 11 points and Austin Brown 10.
Damien Vance led the Rams (5-4) with 16 points. Oxford Hills transfer Matt Fleming added 15 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Bangor led by as much as six before EL cut the deficit in half by the end of the third quarter. Henry Westrich (11 points) made one of two free throws to make it 43-39 early in the fourth, and that would be the Rams’ only point until the game was essentially decided.
Brown and Shea turned the scoreboard in EL’s favor with back-to-back 3-pointers, then Maiwen took the Eddies’ energy to another level with a putback dunk that made it 47-43 Eddies with 4:30 left.
“Every time he gets a dunk, we get fired up. That brings our energy up,” Khalid said.
Maiwen and Khalid kept the run going with a three-point play by the latter that was the result of a steal at the other end by the former. Bangor starting forward Jason Smith drew his fifth foul on the play, which helped EL keep the floodgates open with another Shea trey and another Maiwen jam off a Khalid feed.
Fleming finally got the Rams’ first field goal with a putback of his own miss that made it 55-45 with 1:50 to go.
The Rams missed their first four shots of the period and also had four turnovers, part of the 25 turnovers they committed on the night, many against EL’s full-court pressure.
“Their pressure is good, but pressure is really good when people don’t start in spots that they should start,” Bangor coach Carl Parker said. “When we spaced the court, even in the first half, we had some opportunities.”
The Rams couldn’t get many opportunities for Vance, one of their top shooters, who was held scoreless in the fourth quarter after Brown, a sophomore guard, started guarding him.
“We pressed them quite a bit, so I think they got tired after a while and I think that led to more turnovers,” said Brown, who finished with a game-high six steals and also had two blocked shots.
“One of the things that (Brown) did for us was we put him on Vance late in the game, and his length was able to take some of the shots away from Vance that he was getting over Tyler (Morin). And Tyler did a great job on him,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “We were pressing a lot and Tyler got a little bit tired. Vance is a very good basketball player.”
Led by Khalid, Edward Little got off to a torrid shooting start (7-for-10) in the first quarter. A number of those scoring opportunities came off of eight Bangor turnovers, and Khalid took advantage with half of the Eddies’ points as they built a 16-9 lead.
“I just look for my opponents’ weakness every time I play. I look to see if I can get by them before I drive to the lane,” Khalid said. “I was just thinking about breaking our losing streak, just doing whatever to help our team win today.”
Khalid’s layup extended the lead to 20-9 early in the second quarter. Bangor answered with a 13-2 run, sparked by a Fleming 3-pointer and his dunk off a steal, to tie it at 22.
Despite cooling off significantly in the second quarter (5-for-21), EL took a 26-22 lead into halftime.
The Eddies continued to have some trouble finding the range in the third (5-for-13), while Vance was the catalyst for an 8-0 Bangor run with back-to-back jumpers, the second from beyond the arc, to take a 38-32 lead.
“The third quarter was brutal,” Adams said. “We’ve got to do a better job running our stuff. We have plays to get guys shots and we’ve got to run those plays to get those shots. It’s part of the learning process.”
Brown duplicated Vance’s feat, though, to help get EL within one possession heading into the fourth.
“We had a good practice (Monday) night and I think it led to more confidence in the game,” Brown said.
“We need him to score a little bit more,” Adams said of Brown. “They took Darby out a little bit tonight by face-guarding him and it was an opportunity for us and for him to make some shots. It was a good night for him.”
Bangor High School’s Noah Missbrenner (33) avoids the block attempt by Edward Little High School’s Ibn Khalid, right, during their game in Auburn on Tuesday. (Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal)Bangor High School’s Noah Missbrenner (33) loses the ball as he tries to knife through Edward Little High School’s Darby Shea (33) and Storm Jipson during their game in Auburn on Tuesday. (Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal)Edward Little High School’s Austin Brown (22) gets past Bangor High School’s Henry Westrich during their game in Auburn on Tuesday. (Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal)
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