LEWISTON — Minus its most experienced player, reigning Eastern Class A champion Edward Little High School needs a little something extra from one or two players in James Philbrook’s supporting cast to prosper throughout a treacherous December schedule.

Well, how about all five?

Bowen Leary provided the thunder with 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Yusuf Iman furnished the lightning by rolling up all but one of his 14 points in the second half of EL’s convincing 63-41 KVAC boys’ basketball victory over Lewiston on Tuesday night.

Brandon Giguere (11 points, six rebounds), Steven Giorgetti (nine points, six rebounds) and Timothy Mains (six points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals) each took his turn keeping the Red Eddies (2-1) one step ahead of the Blue Devils (1-3).

Philbrook is expected out of the lineup at least until Christmas with a lingering toe injury. Iman was the lone multiple-year starter in Tuesday’s lineup.

“It’s definitely different,” said Leary, a junior who moved from power forward to center in Philbrook’s absence. “We all need to step up a little bit.”

Those weren’t idle words from Leary, who outscored Lewiston by himself in the first half.

He erupted for 10 points in the second quarter and 17 overall, steering the Eddies back from an early 6-3 deficit to a 31-16 halftime lead. 

Thirteen of Leary’s rebounds fell from the defensive glass, further complicating Lewiston’s spotty (16-for-63, 26 percent) shooting.

“When they got to 31 points at halftime, that’s more than we wanted,” said Lewiston coach Tim Farrar. “We go through stretches where we just can’t score. We play hard, though. We turn them over. We rebound. We do a lot of good things. We take good shots. They just don’t fall.”

Peter Blais led Lewiston with nine points. Corbin Hyde added seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Leary scored the Eddies’ last seven points of the first quarter. EL limited Lewiston to only two field goals in the final 5:37.

EL rattled off another eight in a row — triggered by the first of Leary’s two traditional 3-point plays in the second period — to make it a double-digit advantage.

“Bo Leary had to pick up the slack for us, and he did,” Iman said. “What I try to do is penetrate and get guys good shots. Coach (Mike Adams) told me at halftime to take it strong to the hoop.”

Iman set the fuse on the third quarter with a dunk and added four more buckets before it was over, including two off his own steals.

Giguere also put back one of Iman’s few misses to trigger a 3-point play. EL’s lead never dipped below 16 points in the quarter.

“Maybe it’s me, because Edward Little generally is a slow-starting offensive team,” Adams said. “And look at the weapons we’ve had in the past. I’m hoping that when we do get Jimbo (Philbrook) back and Bo is playing his natural position as a ‘4,’ he’ll be the bigger and stronger kid at that position against most of the teams we face.”

Trey Ouellette’s bank shot 3-pointer cut Lewiston’s deficit to 46-29 with eight minutes left. Blais also connected from long range for the Devils in the second half.

“Yusuf had that stretch in the third quarter. Until then I thought maybe if we got it a little closer, we might’ve had a chance,” Farrar said. “We’ll just stay positive and keep plugging away.”

With Oxford Hills and undefeated Brewer still ahead for EL this week, the Red Eddies needed a bounce-back game against their rivals.

Brunswick beat EL by one point on the Eddies’ home floor Friday.

“It took me a while to get over it,” Adams said. “The kids are so resilient.”

“That Brunswick game hurt us. But we woke up after that,” Iman said. “We realized we weren’t invincible.”

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