AUGUSTA, Maine — After falling behind No. 8 Brewer by six points early in the second quarter Monday, Edward Little shifted into gear, ratcheted up its efficiency at both ends of the Augusta Civic Center court, and cruised to a 54-38 Class A East quarterfinal victory.
“Part of you says, ‘Ooh, this is not fun.’ But I never really felt like we were in trouble,” Edward Little coach Mike Adams said. “I knew that we’d settle down offensively. Defensively we were solid.”
Ian Mileikis scored 17 points, Kaleb Main added 10, and Lew Jensen put together nine points, 18 rebounds and four assists for EL (18-1), which won in the quarterfinals for the eighth consecutive year and will face No. 4 Lewiston at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the semis.
Jared St. Thomas led all scorers with 18 points for the Witches.
Edward Little was haunted by two prior first-round losses when seeded No. 1 in the boys basketball regional tournament.
“We still remember,” Mileikis said. “We were all kids when Troy Barnies’ team went 18-0 [in 2007] and lost in the first round. That was in the back of our minds.”
Brewer (9-11) presented a variety of zone defenses in an effort to confuse the Eddies and slow Mileikis and Jensen. Edward Little needed supplementary contributions and reaped them with greater frequency as the game wore on.
Main scored his first four points during a 7-0 surge, producing a 20-15 lead with 2:53 remaining in the half. Thomas Cedre also scored via the offensive glass before Jensen’s NBA-distance 3-pointer made it 25-19 at the half.
The third quarter was one of three runs — six consecutive Edward Little points, matched by six in reply from Brewer, with seven successive in Eddies’ rebuttal for a 38-27 cushion.
Charles Cedre’s 3-pointer and a steal and drive by Mileikis provided the exclamation point.
Brewer closed within eight on a St. Thomas 3-pointer before Main, Jensen and Mileikis closed it out with consecutive baskets.
Edward Little, which won the regular-season meeting on the road by five points, contained Brewer guard Logan Rogerson to seven and forward Matt Pushard to five.
“Rogerson and Pushard are good players,” Adams said. “Pushard is that post player who typically gives us a hard time. Elijah Roe did an unbelievable job defensively on him.”