TURNER – The virtue of patience was on full display during Tuesday night’s KVAC tilt between Edward Little and Leavitt.

The Red Eddies stayed patient on the offensive end. The Hornets did not, and the result was a 59-41 victory for EL.

Edward Little started strong and finished strong, holding Leavitt scoreless in the first quarter, then withstood a Leavitt charge in the third to pick up their second straight win after starting the season 0-4.

Kenny Poulin led the Eddies (2-4) at both ends of the floor, pouring in 23 points with 10 rebounds and six blocks. Ryan Ford added 10 points. Daniel Berry scored 14 points, all in the second half, to lead the Hornets (0-7), while Jonathan Pirruccello added nine points and 10 boards.

EL emerged from a sluggish first quarter for both teams with a 9-0 lead. The Eddies led 13-0 before Leavitt finally got on the board on a Brandon Powell free throw with 6:21 left in the second quarter. Powell then scored the Hornets’ first field goal a little less than a minute later.

Leavitt missed its first 11 shots, plus three free throws, and turned the ball over nine times before Powell’s jumper made it 15-3.

“We just couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean if we had to,” said Leavitt coach Mike Remillard. “We weren’t moving with the ball or without the ball. We’ve become one-dimensional.”

The Eddies didn’t exactly torch the nets themselves, going without a field goal until the midway point of the quarter. But they stayed patient despite having to contend with Leavitt’s full-court pressure most of the game. Guards Jerry Whalen and Shawn Campbell (eight points, four steals) did a good job pounding the ball inside to Poulin.

“I think both teams were a little overanxious to start,” said EL coach Mike Adams. “We were just happy to be up at that point. We’ll take what we can get.”

Defensively, EL swarmed the post at every turn, usually forcing turnovers, offensive fouls or poor shot selection from the Hornets, who shot 26 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 25 times on the night.

“We tried to control the paint as much as we could,” Adams said. “Pirruccello is a force (in the paint) and we just tried to limit him.”

Leavitt was able to draw some contact from the EL defenders who crowded them, but couldn’t take advantage from the charity stripe.

“You shoot five-of-12 from the free throw line in the first half, and that’s not going to help your cause,” Remillard said. “The funny thing is, we shoot 80, 85 percent in practice, but we get into a game and we can’t shoot over 40.”

The Eddies led by as many as 15 in the first half and held a 14-point cushion at the intermission. They extended the lead to as much as 16 before Berry began heating up from the perimeter. The junior guard drilled four 3-pointers in the third quarter, the last of which pulled the Hornets to within seven heading into the fourth quarter.

That was as close as Leavitt got. Poulin’s putback of his own miss ran the lead back into double digits for good with 4:44 left. The Hornets finished almost as cold as they started, making just four of 20 shots in the final stanza.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We played Leavitt in the preseason twice and they just pounded us, one game especially,” said Adams, whose team beat Gardiner last Friday. “But we knew we had to win this game going into Friday (when EL plays Mt. Blue, Adams’ alma mater). Not that we were looking ahead. We just had to get something going.”