AUBURN — Edward Little star forward Wol Maiwen entered Tuesday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game against Brunswick needing just nine points to reach 1,000 in his career.
After scoring eight in the first half and nearly reaching the milestone on a fade-away jumper from the baseline at the halftime buzzer, Maiwen reached up and tipped an offensive rebound to himself and scored a floater to put himself at 1,001 points two minutes into the third quarter.
Maiwen went on to finish with 26 points, nine rebounds and three blocks to lead the Red Eddies to a 65-40 boys’ basketball win over the Dragons.
Troy Barnies, who graduated in 2007, is the only other male player to accomplish the feat in an EL uniform (five female players have reached 1,000).
“It feels great to know my name is going to be up there with the greats,” Maiwen said. “Since freshman year, Coach (Mike) Adams was always talking about Troy Barnies and how he’s a 1,000-point scorer and how even off the floor he’s a great person, so since freshman year I’ve always looked up to him. Knowing my name is up there is a great thing.”
Maiwen scored six points in the first half on two layups and a dunk off a steal. What buoyed the Red Eddies, though, was Austin Brown’s three 3-pointers that put the Eddies up 21-18 after eight minutes.
Brunswick’s Ethan Upham scored nine first-quarter points and finished with a team-high 19.
The second quarter was a stagnant one for both side, each team scoring only seven points. The Dragons tallied three steals, while Maiwen recorded a steal and block and scored a layup late in the quarter to get to 999 career points.
Maiwen scored his floater 2:09 into the quarter to put the Eddies up by five and celebrated with his teammates, coaches and mother, who presented her son with flowers at half court.
“I never really had it as a goal until the middle of this season when coach said I was close and that it could be possible,” Maiwen said. “Ever since then, he told me not to focus on it and he’d let me know.”
Maiwen and Adams sensed a change after the milestone was reached. The ball stopped being forced to Maiwen, the offense freed up and the Eddies found their stride. Maiwen scored 12 points in the quarter, including back-to-back dunks that ignited the crowd and the team.
“I think I was a little anxious, kind of, and a lot of shots weren’t going down for me, so I was thinking about it a little too much,” Maiwen said. “In the third quarter after I got it I felt good.”
“I think once he got it we seemed to play a lot more relaxed and play better,” Adams said. “Todd Hanson is a great coach and he had a great game plan. … We scored, what, 26 in the first half? Usually that’s a good half in Maine high school basketball, but we were still missing a lot of shots. In the second half, once we did what we wanted to do offensively, we shot a better percentage and got better looks.”
EL out-scored Brunswick 22-9 in the third as five different players scored.
Upham had five points in the third but was the only bright spot for the Dragons in the second half.
“EL is one of the top teams in Maine and we came in here and knew we had to play almost a perfect game,” Hanson said. “I thought the first half our zone slowed them down a bit and we had some good shots. I liked what we did in the third quarter, we had some really good looks and we just didn’t make. Once it got to double-digits it was hard for us to stop the momentum.”
Max Creaser scored two of his 12 points in the fourth, while Maiwen scored six more in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
“He’s the face of our program,” Adams said. “He just does things that you don’t see in high school basketball, like dunks, blocking the ball above the rim and everything, but kids love him and he has a great personality. He means a lot to our program and as a coach it’s been an absolute pleasure to know him and coach him. We’re lucky.”
Edward Little next hosts top-seeded Bangor in the regular-season finale Thursday. The Rams won the teams’ first matchup, 60-46, on Jan. 7 in Bangor.
“I think we know we didn’t play well against Bangor, and we know they’re a great team and we know we have to play well,” Adams said. “Like any athlete in that situation you want to redeem yourself. We are really looking forward to that. We are looking forward to playing them on our court and showing who we really are.”
Brunswick visits “Battle of the Bridge” rival Mt. Ararat on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
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