Edward Little High School head coach Mike Adams watches Wol Maiwen keep the ball inbounds during the third period against Scarborough in Auburn on Friday. Maiwen kept the ball inbounds and passed to a teammate from the corner. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
AUBURN — The Edward Little boys’ basketball team spent the past several days pushing the tempo in practice, then capped off the week by doing the same thing in a game.
That the game was a rematch of last season’s Class AA state championship against “a really good Scarborough team,” according to head coach Mike Adams, did nothing to slow the Red Eddies down. They started off on an 8-0 run, then put the afterburners on in the second quarter when the Red Storm drew close and ran away with a 73-47 victory Friday night.
“We knew they’d come out with a lot of energy, and the only way we could beat them, because we know they’re a really good team, and the only way we could really beat them was if we match that energy,” Edward Little’s Wol Maiwen said. “And I feel like we came out, I feel we really did match that, if not gave more.”
Maiwen missed on the opening possession, but Cam Yorke grabbed the rebound and fed an assist to Max Creaser, who scored the first two of his eight first-quarter points. Creaser stole the ball underneath the Red Storm (2-4) basket at the other end, then Storm Jipson threw an alley-oop to Maiwen for a transition layup, forcing Scarborough coach Phil Conley to call a timeout.
“We called a timeout and we settled down a little bit,” Conley said. “I thought when (Nick) Fiorillo went out with his third foul (in ths second quarter), that kind of changed the tide a little bit, and they took it to us right there. But they beat us in all phases of the game today, offensively, defensively, rebounding, and we need to do a better job going forward, because we can’t play like we played tonight.”
The Red Eddies (6-0) stretched their game-opening run to 8-0 before Brian Austin got Scarborough on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the first quarter. Austin eventually got the Red Storm within 12-10, and he rounded out the first-quarter scoring with a three-point play to keep his team within striking distance at 17-13.
Maiwen threw down a baseline dunk 1:45 into the second quarter to make it 19-15 EL. He said the jam “did get me going a little.”
“I felt like after I had that dunk a lot of momentum came,” he said. “My teammates were really pumped up, and I think it gave us a good push.”
A minute later, Maiwen drew Fiorillo’s third foul to make it 21-15, and that started a 19-2 EL run into halftime.
“I mean, we’re really — blame me, as a coach — really struggling with what we’re trying to do and what we want to do,” Adams said. “And, you know, we said we have to get out and press more, and we have to get out and run more. We had a big week of pushing the basketball and trying to score on our fastbreaks, and the kids have done a really good job with that. So to come out tonight against a really good Scarborough team and do that was huge.”
Up 38-17 at the intermission, Adams said he didn’t need to say anything to keep his players motivated.
“They knew that they had to keep going. They respect Scarborough too much for how good they are. They know that they can come back against anybody. And they know what brought us to where we were,” Adams said. “So, you know, keeping up our pressure, and keeping up with pushing the basketball, they were ready to do that.”
Conley said his team’s plan was to just chip away at the deficit, and increase the defensive pressure. However, nothing the Red Storm did slowed down the Red Eddies and Maiwen, who hit a pair of fall-away jumpers on EL’s first two second-half possessions.
The lead increased to 24 points after three quarters, and the Red Eddies kept up their intensity the rest of the way.
“It was huge, you know, for us to come out and give it 100 (percent effort) from the first buzzer to the last was good. It showed how much our team has come from the beginning of the season,” said Maiwen, who scored a game-high 32 points, 30 of which came after the first quarter.
Adams said he thought Maiwen had at least 17 rebounds.
“He’s one of the best players in the state, and Nick Fiorillo is also one of the best players in the state,” Conley said. “They’re two top players out there, and you know, we knew he was going to get his points. It’s hard to stop him, but if we ever play them again we got to do a better job, obviously.”
Fiorillo led Scarborough with 18 points, and Austin added 12, with 10 of those coming in the first half. Those were the only two Red Storm scorers in the first half, and Conley chalked that up to the offense not being “in sync.”
EL got points from seven different players, with Creaser finishing with 16. The rest of the starting lineup was Austin Brown with eight, Yorke with six and Storm Jipson with four.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Ethan Brown of Edward Little High School drives past Paul Kirk of Scarborough during the fourth period in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
Max Creaser of Edward Little High School puts up a shot from underneath the basket during the third period against Scarborough in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
Cam Yorke, right, of Edward Little High School and Rowan MacDonald of Scarborough battle for the ball during the first half in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
Storm Jipson, right, of Edward Little High School breaks for the basket while being defended by Paul Kirk of Scarborough during the first half in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
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