AUBURN – When you combine a suffocating defense with cold shooting, you get an offensive performance that’s just down right offensive.
Edward Little used a physical inside defensive game to frustrate Skowhegan in the first half Friday night. The Red Eddies held the Indians to a paltry 1-of-15 shooting from the field in that time and rolled to a 60-37 KVAC boys’ basketball triumph.
The Red Eddies (5-11) didn’t allow a field goal until Skowhegan center Josh Whiting wriggled loose for an easy lay-in with 5:19 to go in the second quarter. The score at that point was 21-5 in favor of the Red Eddies. The next basket by the visitors came at the 5:43 mark of the third quarter when Christian Gregor scored from underneath.
Edward Little led 16-2 after one quarter and 32-10 at the half.
“I think we have some real good inside defense,” said EL coach Mike Adams. “(We) play really physical and (we’re) strong. We use our leverage and our strength pretty well.”
“We just did what we’ve done all year,” added EL center Darin Meyers. “We’ve played well defensively all year long. We shut down their shooters and didn’t give them any looks inside.”
Nothing worked offensively in the first half for the Indians (7-9). They struggled in setting up their half-court game. The Red Eddies racked up 11 steals, four by Troy Barnies, and limited the Indians to just nine shots from the field in the first quarter. Their success from the free-throw line was minimal as they connected on only 8-of-18 shots before the break.
“They took our big men out of the game,” said Skowhegan coach Troy Scott. “We did nothing. We didn’t execute and we didn’t step to pass at all. They wanted it more.”
The effective defensive effort seemed to give the Red Eddies confidence at the other end as their offensive execution helped them pull away.
A Barnies steal and lay-in came in the middle of a 14-0 run which saw the Red Eddie lead grow to 18-2. Off the bench came Ryan Goss and Kyle Giguere for offensive contributions. Goss drained a 3-pointer on the wing and Giguere got free for a back door bucket before converting an offensive rebound.
The Red Eddies continued their dominance throughout the first half. Meyers found forward Chipper Houston (game-high 11 points) for a court-length pass and layup for a 20-3 advantage. Later in the second quarter, Barnies (10 points) fed reserve center Josh Barajas (seven points) down low and the lead grew to 26-5.
“We’ve been struggling offensively,” said Meyers. “Tonight, our shooters got open and we looked inside to find our big men. Everybody played their part. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
“Each game (our offense) is getting better,” added Adams. “We played looser and got it going early.”
Whiting led the Indians with seven points while guard Erik James added six.
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