Boys basketball: Malik Foster helps Lewiston pull past Portland in Class AA North clash

LEWISTON — Malik Foster’s big first half powered Lewiston to a 64-44 Class AA North boys basketball win over Portland on Tuesday.

Foster scored the Blue Devils’ first four points of the game and ended the second quarter with a breakaway layup after a steal at half-court. In between, the senior forced a five-second violation, made a couple more steals and grabbed some rebounds.

“We are finally learning that it takes all of us to get a win,” said Foster, who scored nine points in the first half and finished with a game-high 19. “When we are all locked in together we do our best. I thought today, from the jump, we came out, family first. We put everything else, the crowd, everything to the side, and it was just family.”

The Blue Devils (9-3) and the Bulldogs (8-4) battled back and forth throughout the first quarter.

Senior guard David Omasombo gave Lewiston the lead for good when he drilled a wide-open 3-pointer after fooling his defender with a pump fake, making it 11-9 with 1:15 left in the first.

Lewiston began to build its lead in the second quarter.

With 4:40 left in the first half, Lewiston’s Yusuf Dakane stole the ball and passed to Ring Ring, who found Caed Langley for a fast-break layup that put the Blue Devils up 18-11. On the next possession, Dakane stole the ball again and this time set up Elijah Scales for a layup that made it 20-11.

Eli Bigelow also forced a second five-second violation for Lewiston in the second quarter, during which six players scored for the Blue Devils.

Lewiston, which led 30-17 at the break, had six first-half steals.

“I thought defensively we gave them different looks,” Lewiston head coach Elgin Physic said. “We thought we did a pretty good job switching defenses and keeping them on their toes. I mean, (Portland) coach (Joe) Russo, he’s a legendary coach and (we were) just trying to do whatever we can to keep them on their toes.”

Portland fought back to within nine points in the third quarter thanks to five points apiece from Pita and Wani Donato.

Lewiston’s Omasombo hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter, including one with only a few seconds left in the period that put the Blue Devils ahead 42-30.

“I thought we did a great job canceling out the noise and the crowd,” Omasombo said. “We stayed together and we played together as a team. I think that’s what really separated us. We kept pounding them in, got set plays, and at the end of the day we finished off strong.”

Lewiston finally pulled away in the fourth. Midway through the period, Bigelow hit a layup to stretch the lead to 14 points. Portland answered with a quick 3-pointer by Wani Donato, but Bigelow came right back with another layup to give Lewiston a 53-40 advantage.

After Lewiston forced its third five-second violation of the game, Foster hit back-to-back layups that made the lead 57-40 with 3:25 to play.

“He was engaged for 32 minutes,” Physic said. “Shots that he missed he didn’t let them get him down. He had that one in the fourth quarter where he came off the curl for the jump shot and missed it but got his own rebound and put it in. I thought he just kept engaged and he was able to keep doing positive things.”

Foster added two free throws a couple of possessions later. Then, with a minute left, after a crossover that caused a defender to fall, Donovan Jackson passed to Foster under the hoop for a bucket that made it 64-42.

Omasombo finished with 14 points for Lewiston. He and Foster set each other up multiple times throughout the game.

“We have been playing together since seventh grade and obviously we are two leaders on our team,” Foster said. “We have a feel for each other and we know each other’s skills. Whenever I see him on the court we trust each other 100 percent. Any shot he takes I think it’s going in, I’m sure it’s vice-versa for him, so that chemistry we have helps the team as well. When we are on lock, we are all on lock.”

Portland was paced by Wani Donato’s 14 points.

“I liked that we were harassing the ball handler, for the most part we got on the help side and we took some of that stuff away,” Physic said. “I also thought they just did a great job of rebounding. There were some ones that got over our head, but Portland has been a team that dominates the offensive board, so we did a good job keeping them off that.”