PORTLAND — Edward Little’s gold ball collection doubled in one night.
Just a couple of hours after the girls’ team won its first state championship, the Edward Little boys’ team won the third in school history, and first since 1946, with a 41-36 win over Scarborough at Cross Insurance Arena on Friday night.
Darby Shea’s 3-pointer off of an out-of-bounds play gave the Red Eddies the lead for good with 3:33 remaining.
The Red Eddies (18-4) held Scarborough (17-5) without a basket the final 4:26 of the game, including 3-point attempt by Nick Fiorillo that could have tied the game with 1:55 left, but it was blocked by Austin Brown.
Ibn Khalid led EL with 16 points, while Shea added 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Nick Fiorillo led the Red Storm with 16 points.
“It really hasn’t set in yet,” Shea said. “It will be 12:30 a.m. and I’ll be unwinding and I’ll be thinking about winning a state championship. I’m going to wake up (tomorrow)… Well, I won’t be able to sleep.”
“It was ugly, but I don’t care,” said Edward Little coach Mike Adams, who was in his third state title game with EL. “We talked about it. Hampden and Greely (in the Class A final Thursday) night. Coaches are tighter and take less chances. We only pressed a couple of times tonight. We didn’t press all tournament, but we defended here (in the halfcourt). And when we did, we were pretty good.”
Tied at 26-26 at the end of the third quarter, EL took a two-point lead on two separate occasions only to have the Red Storm answer.
Shea’s trey from the left wing put the Eddies in front, 33-30.
“It’s not like we’re looking for a 3 from Darby specifically, but whenever Darby catches it, it’s certainly a possibility,” Adams said.
“I was struggling, but I found an open shot I didn’t think twice. I had to shoot it,” Shea said.
Two Reece Lagerquist free throws pulled Scarborough within one before Wol Maiwen scored of another out-of-bounds play to make it 35-32 with 2:43 left.
The teams exchanged a missed shot and a turnover, leaving Scarborough no choice but to foul Shea with 44 seconds left. He made both for a five-point lead.
Paul Kirk made one of two from the line to make it 37-33, then Scarborough sent Tyler Morin to the line, where he coolly sank both with 24 seconds left. Maiwen rebounded Scarborough’s subsequent miss to send Edward Little fans into celebration mode.
“It’s a dream come true,” Khalid said. “Every little kid wishes for this.”
Scarborough opened up its largest lead on a Fiorillo hoop and a Jaquan Seme free throw that made it 13-6 with 1:42 left in the first quarter. Khalid rallied EL with a jumper and steal and layup to make it a three-point game headed into the second.
“My teammates did a nice job finding me when I was open, and I’d just rip and went through and tried to draw contact when I could,” Khalid said. ”
The Red Storm maintained the lead for much of the rest of the half despite a steal and thunderous dunk by Maiwen. But Tyler Morin’s 3-pointer just inside the final minute sent the Red Eddies into halftime with a 19-18 lead.
After slowing down the pace in the second quarter, neither team seemed eager to step on the accelerator in the third quarter, combining for 19 shots and 14 points. They stood knotted at 26-26 after Fiorillo’s hoop with 2:15 and it stayed there until the start of the fourth.
“Coach told us state championships are like that,” Khalid said. “He told us there aren’t going to be a lot of points scored.”
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