AUBURN – There wasn’t much of a home-court advantage for the Edward Little boys’ basketball team Friday.

The way their offense struggled, the Red Eddies looked more like the road team in their home opener.

Between finding the middle clogged and the rims unfavorable, the Red Eddies struggled to muster much offensively. Instead, Messalonskee found the venue more conducive in a 59-42 victory.

“It’s a credit to their defense,” said EL coach Mike Adams. “They did a real good job. That’s to be expected with Tom Hill. He did a great job at Winthrop, and we knew he’d do a great job at Messalonskee. I think we forced some things and weren’t patient enough. We didn’t get into our offensive set enough, especially the first half.”

The Eagles (2-0) did a nice job shutting down EL’s inside game. When EL did get a quality shot, the ball failed to fall. Kenny Poulin led all scorers with 20 points for EL (0-3), but after three quarters, the other four EL starters had just five points combined.

“He’s going to get 20 a game, no matter what” said Hill. “He’s got a nose for the ball. He’s a tough kid. Once he gets it inside, you’re not going to stop him. We did a pretty good job just neutralizing him. We knew we weren’t going to stop him.”

Messalonskee was led by John Fisher, with 13 while Isaac Hutchinson had 11 on an Eagles club that had nine players score. Though Messalonskee didn’t have a dominant inside game, the Eagles moved the ball effectively, working for some quality shots or finding some driving lanes to the hoop.

“Things are starting to get in place,” said Hill, who guided Winthrop to the Class C state game last year. “The kids are understanding that we want to reverse the ball and look for the shooter on the weak side. We’re starting to get the kids confident in where we want to get the ball.”

While Messalonskee’s defense frustrated EL, the Red Eddies couldn’t get the kind of spark they needed on the defensive end.

“We make our breaks off our half-court defense,” said Adams. “We didn’t take anything away. There were a couple of times where they just passed the basketball all over. You have to give them credit. They’re a good basketball team and look for each other well, but we have to take something away.”

The Eagles opened the lead in the first quarter with a 9-1 spurt. EL shot 3-for-13 in the opening quarter and 2-for-8 in the second.

Though EL trailed 16-9 after one quarter, its offense couldn’t buy a basket. Messalonskee opened the second with two free throws from Stefan Wrigley and back-to-back hoops by Joe Beaudoin for a 22-9 lead.

EL didn’t get a field goal until 1:44 remained in the half when Poulin scored on a press breaker to cut the lead to 24-15. Fischer answered with a 3-pointer and Kris Couture scored on a drive.

Though a Poulin basket to start the third had EL within 10, a rebound by Hutchinson and a jumper and two free throws by Fischer upped the lead again to 36-19. EL did close to within 11 in the fourth with six straight points for a 49-38 margin with 3:29 left, but Wrigley, Bob Kendrick and Tim Corbett hit shots while EL managed just one more field goal the rest of the way.

“We certainly have to execute better and play harder defensively in the half court,” said Adams. “We certainly have to be more patient offensively and let the game come to us rather than try to force it.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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