AUGUSTA — You don’t get to be 19-2 by spending quarters and halves on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

But you don’t win back-to-back regional championships without being able to handle that indignity.

Edward Little High School didn’t deliver any first-round knockouts in defending its Eastern Class A boys’ basketball title. Honestly, if they had, it wouldn’t have fit their lunch-pail personality.

“Last year’s team it seemed like we were too unstoppable,” said EL senior guard Yusuf Iman, who scored eight of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s 59-55 victory over Brewer. “We came into every game and we thought we were better than everybody else.”

This year’s Red Eddies haven’t given themselves enough breathing room to start sweating style points or press clippings.

Let’s review.

Quarterfinal: Down 9-0 before the between-games line at the concession stand was fully served, EL stormed back to a 57-42 victory over Mt. Blue.

Semifinals: Trailing by 10 with four minutes left in regulation to hot-shooting Bangor, whose decades of playoff success hint at manifest destiny, EL rallied to force overtime before surviving and advancing on the shoulders of an Iman buzzer-beater.

Final: EL watched a 15-point lead evaporate into a deficit of eight with seven minutes to go, then held Brewer without a field goal for close to 20 minutes of real-world time.

The Red Eddies scored the last six points on a Bo Leary layup and four Iman free throws to bedevil the Witches, 59-55.

“We keep it interesting, I guess. The past couple games, definitely,” said Leary, who scored 11 points and was presented the Al Halliday Award as outstanding player and sportsman of the tournament.

Tough to understand how the committee overlooked Iman, who was brilliant from Saturday’s tip-off to Friday’s horn and took over each game whenever the situation demanded it.

Then again, it’s almost laughable to think of individual awards, period, when it comes to these Red Eddies.

Leary and cousin James Philbrook are an almost unstoppable tandem. Philbrook, the unselfish big man with the troublesome toe, notched nine points, 12 rebounds and seven assists Friday in the most complete performance you’d dare to dream up for your center.

Timmy Mains, the forgotten guard who weighs roughly as much as the average sports columnist’s right leg, played the game of his life against Brewer. His two early 3-pointers staked EL to a 21-7 lead. His two free throws tied the game with 1:35 remaining. Mains ended with 12 points.

We’re talking about a kid whose career has been start-stop due to concussions. Yet Mains’ utter disregard for his personal safety led to myriad offensive fouls, defensive rebounds and steals that reversed momentum’s direction throughout this tournament.

These Eddies didn’t cut corners. They couldn’t rely on a surplus of individual talent. Their chief weapon was accountability, to Adams and to each other.

“At one point I looked over at the bench and I was worried. Kind of like the other day against Bangor. Everything was going their way,” Adams said. “Then I heard (senior reserve) Steven Giorgetti say, ‘Believe in ourselves,’ and they did. They’re so close. I think it’s that friendship and that love they have for each other, and that’s what high school basketball is all about.”

The true foundation for all these come-from-behind wins was constructed by a certain fall-from-ahead loss on this floor 51 weeks ago.

Thornton Academy’s win in the 2009 Class A state final did more than extend EL’s now 64-year title drought. The Eddies sat through the agony of watching the Trojans climb ladders, cut down the nets and rejoice with their fans.

And then it got worse on the longest 40-minute ride of their young lives.

“On the bus home, to have (Thornton) fans honking at us and calling us names,” Philbrook said, “that was definitely motivation. The next day we were right back at it. Everybody was dedicated.”

“Last year we kind of got slapped in the face on the bus ride home,” added Iman. “Coach told us take a week off after that game, and we didn’t. We got right back in the weight room. We set goals, we had it posted up, and we accomplished it.”

The tournament draw did EL no favors.

Mt. Blue was a No. 7 seed that lost to both Hampden and Brewer in overtime late in the season. Bangor, which as Adams put it “has represented Eastern Maine (in the state final) the last 50 years,” was the semifinal obstacle for the second straight winter.

And Brewer’s quickness and feathery shooting touch posed enough problems even if EL hadn’t unwittingly poked them with a stick by sweeping three previous encounters this winter, including a one-sided victory in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship.

The coach knew it would be tough. He also knew he had a team mentally equipped to run that gauntlet.

“It’s the amount of time they spend with us in tournaments and summers and our other programs, whether it’s freshman or JV,,“ Adams said. “I just think they’re kids that have really dedicated themselves to this. Through the years they’ve been in those situations, and they never stop believing in each other.”

No matter what the light bulbs suspended over their heads say.

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His e-mail is [email protected].