Storm Jipson of Edward Little High School reaches for the ball in front of Matt Fleming of Bangor during the first quarter in Auburn on Thursday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)
AUBURN — Senior night and a chance to avenge one of its two losses is all Edward Little needed for fuel for Thursday night’s game against Bangor.
Unlike their 60-46 loss in Bangor on Jan. 7, the Red Eddies made the Rams earn everything they got in both teams’ regular-season finale.
Austin Brown scored a game-high 20 points and had eight rebounds and four assists, and Wol Maiwen added 18 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks before fouling out with 2:40 left as Edward Little handed Bangor its second loss of the season, 69-56.
Both teams finish the season 16-2.
Matt Fleming led Bangor with 17 points, five rebounds and three steals, while Damien Vance added 14 points, including his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.
“Today, knowing that we had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder with Bangor beating us the last time at their place, it gave us a little more motivation,” Maiwen said. “We wanted it a little more.”
Edward Little never trailed beyond the early stages of the first quarter. It led 14-12 after the opening period, then started to open up some breathing room after back-to-back three-pointers by Cam Yorke (13 points) — a 3-point shot, followed by a traditional three-point play off a feed from Storm Jipson — made it 25-17 midway through the second quarter.
“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but Edward Little’s a really good basketball team,” Bangor coach Brad Libby said. “Their aggressiveness defensively took us out a little bit of what we typically do, so we’ve got to make sure we match that next time we step on the floor with whoever we’re playing and not let other teams dictate what we do offensively.”
Freshman John Shea’s hoop gave the Eddies a 34-26 lead heading into halftime. The Rams couldn’t get much closer in the second half.
Noah Missbrenner’s 3-pointer pulled Bangor back within two possessions, 38-32, with 5:09 left in the third quarter. But the Rams, who shot just 35 percent (10-for-29) in the first half against EL’s man-to-man defense, struggled against a 1-3-1 zone (3-for-12) and managed just one more field goal in the period.
“They’re a great shooting team, and they do a lot of ball screens, so you can’t keep doing the same thing to defend it,” Adams said. “Plus, when both of the players are that good, (Isaac) Cummings (13 points) and Fleming, or Vance and Fleming, it’s hard to guard both of them in that situation. I thought we did a decent job, but we did a great job rebounding, so we limited them to one shot most of the game.”
Sometimes they limited the Rams to less than one shot. The Eddies forced a half-dozen turnovers in the third quarter to pull away. A Brown 3-pointer and seven points in a row from Maiwen opened the margin to 50-35 at the end of three.
“At this point, the whole team knows that when we get the ball inside, we play our best game of basketball,” Maiwen said.
“Offensively, we really did a better job of getting better shots for ourselves,” Adams said. “We always say, ‘Paint wins.’ We had some shots, but I think that we did a better job of getting the ball into the paint tonight. And we shot our free throws well.”
EL shot 15-for-25 (60 percent) from the line and 25-for-48 (52 percent) from the floor.
The Rams trimmed the deficit to 10 on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the last time with 4:05 remaining, but never made more of a dent in the lead.
Both teams end the regular season at 16-2 and will meet again in the KVAC championship game at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Cony High School.
Before the game, EL senior Ethan Brown was presented with the Steven L. Galway Sixth Player Award.
The Edward Little High School bench and fans react after Wol Maiwen was fouled on a dunk during the fourth period against Bangor High School on Thursday. Maiwen made the foul shot for a three-point play. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)
Austin Brown drives through Bangor defenders Jason Smith, left, Henry Westrich, Luke Caruso and Matt Fleming on his way to the basket during the first half in Auburn on Thursday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
Wol Maiwen of Edward Little High School drives to the basket during the third period against Bangor in Auburn on Thursday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)
Cam Yorke of Edward Little High School drives to the basket during the first half against Bangor in Auburn on Thursday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover)
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