AUBURN – In the course of four shots, Dave Labonte turned everything around.

Trying to reverse an Edward Little run in the final quarter, Lewiston’s senior guard changed the momentum in a hurry. His first 3-pointer of the quarter tied the game. His next two from beyond the arc put the Blue Devils ahead for good. He even added a two-pointer during a 15-2 run that led to a 73-63 win over the Red Eddies.

“He hit that first one and looked at me and said We’re not losing'”, said Lewiston coach Jason Fuller. “I said Fine, make sure he gets the ball every trip.’ Credit my kids, they knew where the ball had to go.”

Labonte finished with 30 points, including seven 3-pointers. Joe Stachowiak added 14 for the Blue Devils while Steve Wood had 10.

“A shooter like Labonte, you’ve got to find him,” said EL coach Mike Adams. “If you give him a chance to get hot and get going, then he’s in a rhythm. You can’t matchup up to him after he’s caught it. You’ve got to find him before he catches it, and we didn’t do that.”

EL (1-1) had used a 10-2 run, including eight straight points to erase a nine-point lead in the third quarter. Seven straight points to start the fourth had the Red Eddies up 55-50.

“They did a great job,” said Fuller. “Coach Adams had them coming out in the second half, and they did a great job getting the ball in the middle of the floor and looking opposite. We don’t defend on the backside, and they picked it apart in the third quarter.”

Troy Barnies and Darin Meyers each had 16 for EL while Chipper Houston had 13 and Derek Doucette added 11.

Up 55-50 early in the fourth, a Stachowiak drive got Lewiston (1-1) within 55-52 with 5:40 left. Labonte then dropped a 3-pointer to tie it.

“It just came out of the offense, and it just happened” said Labonte. “The offense is what we run, and the players made some great screens, and I was open.”

He hit a go-ahead 3-pointer a half-minute later. After two free throws by Stachowiak, and a Barnies basket off a Meyers feed, Labonte hit another 3-pointer with 4:03 left for a 63-57 lead.

“I thought the momentum was swinging our way,” said Labonte. “We started to pick it up defensively and our defense sparks our offense.”

Labonte scored off a fast break for a 65-57 lead with 3:52 left. Lewiston hit five of its first eight shots of the fourth and buckled down defensively. EL turned the ball over six times and shot just 4-for-11 in the final quarter.

“We can’t press if we don’t score,” said Fuller.

Lewiston had opened leads of 23-14 and 38-27 in the first half. Both times EL managed to battled its way back. The late third-quarter surge put EL up by one before a Mike Cournoyer 3-pointer put the Blue Devils up 50-48 after three.

“We couldn’t rebound or run our offense or do anything,” said Adams of the first half. “We just played their style of basketball.”