AUBURN — As a sophomore coming off the bench, it has been easy for Lew Jensen to assume that he’d have his day — someday.

Friday night, Jensen’s time came sooner than he might have expected. His 3-pointer with 12 seconds left broke a tie and help lift Edward Little to a 68-63 win over Lewiston.

“As a sophomore, he’s always said, ‘It’s not my time, it’s not my time,'” Edward Little boys’ basketball coach Mike Adams said. “We’ve told him, ‘It is your time. You’re a good shooter. You’re a good scorer. Be more aggressive.’ That almost came back to bite me, but he was huge and hit a big shot.”

EL called time out with 19 seconds left with the score tied at 63. The Red Eddies were looking to get the ball down low to Quin Leary, but if the opportunity presented itself, Jensen was supposed to take advantage.

“We wanted to get a quick shot,” Jensen said. “It was a double screen for me and they were going to screen for Quin. So it was whoever gets open on that. I got a little bit open.”

Lewiston tried to tie it in the closing seconds. Josh Thomas had a 3 that hit the front of the rim. Then a try by Adam Poliquin also missed. Ian Mileikis drew a foul and sank two free throws to seal it for EL (5-0).

“Mileikis is another sophomore,” said Adams. “He came in and hit his free throws down the stretch. That was really huge for us.”

Lewiston had rallied from behind in the fourth and tied the game twice in the final two-plus minutes.

“We didn’t make anything easy for ourselves,” Lewiston coach Tim Farrar said. “A lot of that has to do with how EL plays. We finally felt like we got the game we wanted. We wanted the game to be played up and down. Our pressure started working in that fourth quarter. I give them credit for fighting until the end.”

Leary led EL with 22 points while Sean Ford added 18. Jensen finished with 11. Lewiston (3-2) got 18 from Abdi Hussein and 14 from Steven Patrie.

Lewiston had been down by as 12 in the third quarter. The Blue Devils press changed that in a hurry in the fourth. Isaiah Harris hit a 3 to start the quarter. After Ford scored for EL, Lewiston ran off six straight points and closed to within four. Two of those baskets came on back-to-back steals.

“Lewiston is a phenomenal team,” Adams said. “We knew a run was coming. We were up by 12 points but knew that pressure was going to turn up a notch and it did.”

EL managed to maintain the lead through much of the fourth. Back-to-back hoops by Leary and Ford made it 57-49 with 5:05 left. Lewiston answered with a 3 from Josh Thomas. Then with 2:48 left. Hussein hit a 3 and Donne Aggossou scored in the paint to tie it 59-59.

“We had to stay focused and make sure we didn’t lose our heads,” Jensen said. “They had all the momentum at that point.”

EL got free throws from Mileikis and a basket by Ford to make it 63-59 with 1:47 left. After Poliquin and Hussein each sank free throws, Lewiston got a defensive board on a corner jumper with 47 seconds left. The Blue Devils got the ball inside on a Harris pass and Patrie scored to tie it with :28 left.

EL called its timeout and set up the play that led to Jensen’s shot.

“We had a couple of looks,” Farrar said. “That was a great shot that (Jensen) hit. What are you going to do? I guess I can live with that.”

Lewiston missed its first eight shots in each of the first two quarters. EL managed to open up the lead late in the first half with an 11-5 run. Leary had seven points during that run that led to a 31-21 lead at the half.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Adams said. “They’re a great team and will win a lot of games. We’re glad to get them once at our place.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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