By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – You’ve got two of the best defensive teams in the KVAC squaring off, so it’s safe to say that the game could come down to the intangibles known as “the little things.”

Fortunately for the Lewiston Blue Devils, they have a number of players specializing in those little things – hard-nosed defense, persistence on offense, plain old heads-up basketball. So it’s not surprising that they were able to knock off Lawrence, 39-35, Saturday afternoon.

Lewiston (8-3) shut down Lawrence’s offensive catalysts, Jake Gregory and Jon Kelley, in the first half on their way to holding the Bulldogs (8-3) to the lowest point total of any Blue Devil opponent this season.

“(Gregory and Kelley) can really get to the rim, so we knew we had to take that away. Their shots had to be on the perimeter,” said Lewiston coach Jason Fuller. “I thought we did a good job of that.”

The Devils’ defensive effort was led by Tyson Morgan and Chris Ford, who kept Gregory and Kelley out of the paint and combined for eight of the team’s 10 steals

“They’re great defensively,” Fuller said. “Both kids aren’t going to get the recognition they deserve because they’re not going to fill a stat line with points, assists, things like that.”

“I thought Tyson set a great tone early guarding Kelley, causing problems and turned him over a couple of times early,” he added. “And Ford just does the little things.”

Ford added seven points for the Devils, who were led offensively by Jon Fournier (10 points) and David Labonte (nine points). Gregory scored all 12 of his points in the second half and nearly led Lawrence back from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit before Lewiston’s defense made one last stand.

“Coach Fuller really emphasized getting the lead because Lawrence likes to have long possessions,” Ford said. “We were able to take them out of their offense and get some transition points. They like to penetrate baseline a lot, so we had to double-team them quick before they got in the paint.”

“Their quickness overwhelmed us,” said Lawrence coach Mike McGee. “Their guards ate our guards up in the first half.”

Lewiston’s fullcourt pressure got to the Bulldogs immediately, forcing five turnovers in the first four minutes. The Devils couldn’t make much hay from them, though, because they came out cold from the field (2-for-13 in the first quarter).

The shooting woes continued into the second quarter, but led by Ford and Joe Stachowiak, Lewiston started to pound the offensive glass and convert second chances. The Devils led 22-14 at halftime and would have enjoyed a wider margin if Lawrence’s Evan Bois (eight points) hadn’t done some hard work of his own on the offensive boards.

“I thought the offensive rebounding was the key in the first half,” Fuller said. “We were getting good shots. We weren’t making them, but we found a way to get through it by rebounding. Our big guys did a good job of keeping us in the game.”

Lewiston maintained the eight-point lead for much of the third quarter. Labonte pushed it into double digits by nailing two free throws after McGee was assessed a technical foul before the start of the fourth quarter.

A George Foisy hoop made it 34-22 Devils, but Gregory got the Bulldogs back in it with a pair of three-point plays. Lawrence went without a field goal for the next 2:30, however, and wasn’t able to make it a one-possession game until Corey Kelley (10 points) hit a jumper with 2.8 seconds left to make it 38-35. Morgan was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and made one-of-two at the line to seal it.