Edward Little’s Austin Brown goes up for a basket as Lewiston’s Dylon Jackson plays defense during Friday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

LEWISTON — Lewiston’s persistence against Edward Little clearly had the Red Eddies on edge for a little more than half of Friday night’s boys’ basketball rivalry game.

Edward Little senior Wol Maiwen relieved some of the frustration with each of his three dunks in the second half, each a little more thunderous than its predecessor. Not coincidentally, the Red Eddies settled into a groove against the Blue Devils’ 2-3 zone and pulled away for a 78-62 win and a season sweep in the Battle of the Bridge.

Maiwen finished with 37 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a dominating final appearance in Lewiston. Cam Yorke and Max Creaser added 12 points apiece for the Red Eddies (12-2).

“I think we just needed to be more aggressive,” said Maiwen, who scored 26 in the second half. “In the first half, we came out and we lost the ball a lot. We weren’t stepping to the ball on catches. We weren’t being strong enough, and they really took advantage of that.”

Hassan Hussein led Lewiston (2-12) with 23 points and five steals, while Evan Williams added 15 points.

All of Williams’ points came on five 3-pointers, which helped the Blue Devils shoot 8-for-18 from beyond the arc. That kept them within striking distance before Maiwen took over in the second half.

“We did a better job of attacking their zone,” Edward Little coach Mike Adams said. “We got the ball inside a little bit better and we got some easier shots. We still didn’t defend the 3 as well as we want. That’s been a weakness for us all year, getting out on 3-point shooters. We’ve got to do a better job of that if we’re going to be a better team. But Lewiston played really well.”

Trailing by four at halftime, Lewiston pulled within two after a Hussein hoop off of a Yasin Mohamud steal one minute into the second half.

EL answered with a 10-2 run, sparked by a Creaser 3-pointer and propelled by Maiwen’s first jam, followed by his 14-foot jumper that made it 42-33.

“We had a lull in that third,” Lewiston coach Tim Farrar said. “I thought the fourth quarter we came back and still fought. They just didn’t miss. They started moving the ball really well. And they hit some shots in the second half that they didn’t in the first. When (Wol) starts hitting from the outside …”

EL shot 17-for-29 in the second half. Austin Brown (10 points, five rebounds, five assists) found Yorke off an out-of-bounds play for a 3-pointer that made it 50-38 Eddies.

“Lost in some of that is some of the great passes that Cam Yorke made. They look for each other so well and make each other better,” said Adams, whose team won the first meeting in Auburn, 75-56, on Dec. 10. “That’s something we’ve said, too: When you’ve got a player like Wol, you have to use him to make you better, and then that will make him better as well. In the second half, we used him better.”

The Red Eddies led by as much as 16 early in the fourth before Willaims’ fifth 3-pointer brought the margin to 11 at 64-53.

A 3 by Brown and Maiwen’s final dunk served as the bookends on 12-6 EL run that put the game away.

“In the first half, I knew I wasn’t coming out strong. I was kind of soft with the ball,” Maiwen said. “In the second half, it just clicked and I started to become more aggressive.”

Lewiston’s zone gave Maiwen and EL plenty of trouble in the early stages, helping to force seven turnovers and a 12-12 score after one quarter.

“I think Lewiston came out a lot more energized than we did,” Maiwen said. “I think that’s what really gave them a lot of momentum. We started off the game pretty flat.”

Edward Little opened the second quarter with a 12-0 run, thanks in part to three Lewiston turnovers in the first minute. A hoop by Creaser and a steal and layup by Yorke got the Eddies going. A nice Creaser feed to Storm Jipson cutting to the basket for two, Maiwen’s coast-to-coast layup, Brown’s free throw and Maiwen’s putback when he missed the second foul shot made it 24-12 Eddies.

A 3-pointer by Hussein helped the Devils get back within single digits, but they trailed by nine midway through the period before closing the half with a 9-4 run bookended by a pair of Williams 3-pointers.

Lewiston’s Steven Beauregard gets the rebound underneath Edward Little’s basket during Friday night’s game in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

Edward Little’s Storm Jipson looks past Lewiston’s Yasin Mohamed for a teammate to pass the ball to during Friday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

Edward Little’s Austin Brown fakes at the last second and passes the ball to a teammate during Friday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

Lewiston’s Yasin Mohamed passes the ball to a teammate over Edward Little’s Maxwell Creaser during Friday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. Edward Little’s Storm Jipson look on at the play from the right. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

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