LEWISTON —There were quite a few sullen faces after a loss to Lisbon last week.

But the Unified Basketball team from Lewiston found a way to brighten its outlook in a hurry. Coach Bill County simply reminded his Blue Devils who the next opponent was.

“The kids were down a little bit, but we got them in the huddle and we told them that we were playing the Eddies,” County said. “I don’t care what level you play, when Auburn and Lewiston are playing, it’s always a special rivalry.”

The Blue Devils met the Red Eddies in the final game of the Unified Basketball regular season Tuesday. Lewiston eked out a 30-26 win, breaking a 26-26 tie with a pair of baskets in the final minutes.

“They look forward to this,” said Edward Little coach Sandy Whiting, whose team lost to Lewiston 33-24 earlier in the season and were just as anxious for the rematch. “It was a chance to shine and come back. We’re playing really good together. We were hoping to get a win out of it for morale and everything. They always look forward to it. I played for Lewiston. There’s the rival that we have that makes it special.”

Unified Basketball is in its second season with the playoffs scheduled to begin Friday. The games feature partners who worked with athletes with development disabilities. Lewiston’s partners included Mohamed Khalid, Dek Hassan and Austin Wing, all members of the boys’ soccer state championship team. Emily Mousseau, a cross country runner and softball player and Jared Rubin, a football player, are also partners for the Blue Devils. Among EL’s partners were soccer, football and field hockey players, including Patrick Luizzo, Megan Steele, Olivia Jensen, Shammond Thomas, Brandon Case, Tyler Libby and the student coach was Karli Stubbs, who started on the EL girls’ basketball team in Saturday’s state title game.

Lisbon beat Lewiston 33-24 last week and it was a disappointing loss for a team that had won five of its first six games.

“We were mad at ourselves after we lost that,” Lewiston’s Travis Maier said.

With the tourney just ahead, the Blue Devils bounced back against the only team they play twice all season. With a sizable crowd and the fact that most of the kids know each other and competed together in other Special Olympics sports, it was a fun atmosphere for the two teams.

“We were really upset, but once we had a practice, we came back and won it,” Lewiston’s Connor Jewett said. “It always pumps us up to play our rivals.”

Maier led Lewiston (6-2) with nine points, while Caleb Beaupre added eight. It was baskets by those two respectively that broke the tie and put Lewiston up late in the game. Jewett added six points and made the pass to Maier in the post for the go-ahead basket.

“The hoop from Travis was big,” County said. “Connor did a nice job looking up. He made a nice pass.”

EL (3-4) got 14 from Ben Dumont, who scored eight in the fourth quarter to help EL rally from a 21-16 deficit after three quarters. Amsden Hayes added six points for EL. 

“He’s a quick player,” Whiting said of Dumont. “He works hard with the kids. He wants to be part of this community and he’s just happy to be on the team.”

With a five-point lead heading into the fourth, Lewiston bumped that up to 22-16 on a free throw by Maier. EL trimmed the lead with an 8-4 run. Dumont scored on a drive. After Jewett hit a short jumper, Dumont scored again. Olivia Jensen scored with 3:52 left to get EL within 24-22, but Josh County hit a jumper with 3:34 remaining for a 26-22 lead. Dumont scored on back-to-back drives to tie it at 26-26 with 3:13 left.

“We’ve worked hard all year,” Whiting said. “Our partners have worked great with our athletes. We look forward to it every day when we get together.”

Lewiston broke the tie with 2:05 left. Jewett had the ball in the midcourt and led the attack. He fed an open Maier in the left low post for the shot.

“I saw him wide open,” Jewett said. “He was right there.”

Maier, who is a veteran of last year’s Lewiston team, scored to give the Blue Devils the lead.

“It felt great to make that,” Maier said.

Lewiston added to the lead when Beaupre scored in the post with 1:25 left.

“Most of the kids on the floor at the end of the game are kids that have played before,” County said. “They’re our veterans. It gets tough. I tell the kids that we’ll go even time as much as we can for three quarters. Then in the fourth quarter, it is competition.”

It was a back-and-forth game from the start with some nice plays by both teams. EL got the early lead thanks to a pair of 3’s from Hayes. The last one came at the buzzer to make it 8-4.

“He has definitely come a long way in terms of shooting and learning to stop and pass the ball,” Whiting said of Hayes. “His confidence has definitely come a long way.”

A basket by Chet Barnard had the EL lead up to 10-4 early in the second, but Lewiston got scores from Maier and Jewett. After a drive by Carter Culleton, Lewiston got a Theresa Morin basket to end the half down 12-10.

Lewiston opened the lead in the third, finishing the quarter with eight straight points. Down 16-12 after a Dumont drive, Maier and Beaupre scored to tie it 16-16. A Beaupre basket in the post gave Lewiston a lead, and Za’mond Smith’s 3 from the corner boosted the advantage to 21-16 after three.

Lewiston was seeded fifth in the North standingsm, while EL was ranked eighth. With some games left to be played Wednesday, the pairings for Friday’s first round of the playoffs won’t be known until then.

“There were a lot of big games today,” County said. “This game was pretty important. Messalonskee and Winslow were playing. So the matchups, we won’t know until Wednesday, but I’m pretty sure we’re playing at home Friday.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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