AUBURN – With their outstanding guard play, quickness and defensive pressure, this year’s Brewer Witches remind Edward Little coach Mike Adams of last year’s regional finalist Red Eddies. The Witches gave a painful demonstration of the similarities in a three-point win over this year’s Red Eddies on Dec. 19 en route to a 10-1 start to the season.

Hungry for revenge on Friday night, EL rendered those Witches unrecognizable while playing its most complete game of the season.

The Red Eddies dominated both ends of the floor and got contributions from just about everybody in a convincing 80-51 triumph.

James Philbrook led EL with 12 points and nine rebounds in a little less than three quarters of action. Tyler Gammon chipped in 11 points, Corey Therriault 10 and Sean Daigle nine. Donald Drake led Brewer with 13 points and five steals.

Philbrook, Daigle and Therriault controlled the paint throughout, helping the Eddies shoot 54 percent from the field through the first three quarters. With their running game in high gear, the offense resembled a layup line or a tip drill at times.

“Tonight, we used our size offensively for the first time all year,” Adams said. “If you told me that Corey Therriault would score 10 points and we’d be able to pull out a win against them, I’d say that’s going to be a pretty close, exciting game until the end.”

Ironically, the game was only close up until Therriault went to the bench with two fouls a little over three minutes in. The Eddies (11-2) obviously didn’t miss their top scorer, ripping off a 12-3 run to close out the quarter with an 18-9 lead.

“Different guys stepped up at different points,” Adams said. “It was what we did together and it was really fun to watch.”

It wasn’t much fun for Brewer (10-2), which missed its first six shots of the second quarter as EL got off and running again to an 8-0 start that sent its lead to double digits for good.

“They really ran the floor well. They just steamrolled us early and kept on playing,” Brewer coach Clayton Blood said. “They’re so long, they had their way.”

Sean Murphy finally broke the ice for the Witches, scoring their first field goal of the period with 4:14 left in the half. The Eddies, sparked by a baseline leaner by Therriault and three straight putbacks by Therriault and Gammon, then ripped off a 14-4 run to go into the locker room with a 43-19 lead.

EL scored 20 of its 25 points in the second quarter in the paint. Brewer, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going to the basket and had to settle for jump shot after jump shot. The result was 23 percent field shooting in the first half and an open invitation for Edward Little to get out on the break.

“We definitely brought our intensity up a notch,” Philbrook said. “We got the rebounds, kicked it and ran.”

“When we don’t score, our pressure is ineffective, obviously,” Blood said. “They defended us very well. They certainly set the tempo with their defensive pressure. We’re supposed to be quicker. We’re supposed to be able to take them off the dribble, and it didn’t look that way.”

Brewer made a brief run by forcing six turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half to pull within 20. Dominique Bailey (seven points, four steals) and Shane Ciriello (eight points) answered for the Eddies with three points apiece and the rout was back on.

“Turnovers killed us last time. We had 30-plus turnovers last game,” Philbrook said. “Our guards handled the ball great, got it inside and we got it back out and were shooting the ball well. They couldn’t stop us.”