AUBURN — Same old Edward Little. Just a little younger.

The Red Eddies still have a centerpiece named Leary. They have four new starters who have been in the system and followed the program’s edict of getting bigger, stronger and smarter, to the letter.

EL looks more like five, 6-foot-2½-ish interchangeable parts than ever, actually, and Tuesday night’s result — a 71-56 KVAC verdict over Cony — rang remarkably familiar.

“Same concept,” senior forward Omar Haji-Hersi said. “Get the ball inside to the big man and work inside-out.”

Haji-Hersi and junior Quin Leary made that look almost as simple as it sounds. Leary erupted for a career-high 29 points, six rebounds and five assists. Haji-Hersi had 23 points to go with eight boards and three steals.

Defensively, Leary drew the lion’s share of responsibility against one of the premier players in the conference, Walker Cooper. EL contained Cooper to the dull roar of 17 points, only eight of those after the first quarter.

“We work on our defense. That’s a big emphasis for us. We did a decent job of that,” Leary said. “We used our size on Cooper. We passed the ball well and got the ball inside.”

EL (2-0) also got a combined 11 points from the new starting backcourt of Ian Therriault and Nate Alexander and a rare double-double independent of the scorebook — 10 assists and 10 rebounds — from Sean Ford.

The Eddies opened a 24-14 lead after one quarter. With the exception of some early foul trouble and a few jittery minutes in its initial look at Cony’s 2-3 zone out of the halftime lull, EL was in control throughout.

“I think we’re a good passing team at this point in the season,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “We can be very good if we continue to improve.”

Josiah Hayward added 15 points and Zach Lachance 10 for Cony (0-2).

On the heels of its fourth straight appearance in the Eastern Class A final earlier in 2011, EL was selected seventh out of 14 teams in the KVAC preseason coaches’ poll.

Wishful thinking, perhaps? EL shot 54 percent from the field and forced 20 turnovers.

Leary’s presence played a pivotal role in both numbers. His defense was a disruption against Cooper, and any successful plan to stop him required two or three Rams and left at least one other Red Eddie wide-open.

Haji-Hersi was the frequent beneficiary. He scored a dozen in the first quarter — including two 3-pointers — and notched nine more points in the third.

“They overplay on Quin a lot, which allows more space on the perimeter and allows a guy like me and Nate and Sean to get shots up,” Haji-Hersi said.

Leary erupted for 11 points in the second quarter, 19 in the half, and the Eddies ripped open a 42-25 lead.

Cony was 7-for-22 for the floor prior to intermission.

“Quin was incredible tonight. Not only did he do a great job offensively, but he did a phenomenal job defensively on one of the best players in the state,” Adams said. “Before the game we said maybe we’d give different looks to (Cooper), put Omar on him so we don’t wear Quin out. But he just got stronger as the game went on. It was inspiring.”

Haji-Hersi hoisted EL to a 19-point lead in the third quarter before two Lachance 3-pointers triggered a 9-0 Cony run.

Leary answered with a steal and coast-to-coast lay-up in the closing seconds of the quarter, protecting the double-digit lead.

All five Eddies starters scored in the early fourth-quarter surge that sealed it.

“One of the hard things about coaching is when you play that well in the first half, you can talk about it all you want but (a letdown) is still going to happen to a certain degree,” Adams said.

That’s not unlike other teams and coaches talking about EL coming back to the KVAC and Eastern Maine pack. Making it actually happen might be a different story.

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