AUBURN — Edward Little jumped out to a five-point lead on Tuesday night before Brunswick attempted its initial shot.

Then the Dragons sank six before they missed one — including three consecutive 3-pointers by junior Caleb Cost. The nightmare only multiplied thereafter for the Red Eddies, who fell to their most lopsided home boys’ basketball loss in more than a decade, 67-35.

EL (1-3) has lost three consecutive games by double digits. The Eddies graduated all five starters from a team that went 17-1 in the regular season a year ago.

“We’re on Game 4, and we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “I’m at a loss. Nobody expected it. It’s not fun, and it’s not fun for those kids, either. They’ve seen a lot of success over the years.”

Cost collected 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter. He hit another 3-pointer in the second period, staking the Dragons to a 32-19 halftime lead.

After EL cut it to 10 on Jarod Norcross Plourde’s trey out of the half, four different Dragons scored during an 8-0 run that put it away early.

“It was great to get off to a good start,” Brunswick coach Todd Hanson said. “Caleb Cost is one of our better offensive weapons, and tonight he really exerted himself on the offensive end. Him getting off to that quick start was really important for us. I think it gave the rest of the guys confidence.”

Corban Teel added 16 points and eight rebounds for Brunswick (3-1). Thomas Hanson, the coach’s son and the Dragons’ lone senior starter, supplemented six points with eight assists.

Plourde paced EL with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Red Eddies shot 14-for-60 (23 percent) from the field and 3-for-12 from the free-throw line.

“The wheels just fell off. We couldn’t do anything right at all,” Adams said. “When you face that adversity, you’ve got to figure out what to do, and because they’re so young, they didn’t know what to do.”

After years as KVAC rivals, EL and Brunswick play a home-and-home series this winter while swimming in different tournament pools. The Dragons are assigned to Class A South, where they will encounter the likes of Greely, Falmouth, Kennebunk and Biddeford. The Eddies are in Class AA North, where Portland, Deering, Oxford Hills and Cheverus lurk.

That didn’t make a road win over a young edition of an old nemesis any less satisfying for Brunswick.

“It means a lot. I think I’ve beaten them one other time in my high school career so far,” Cost said. “Especially coming off a loss to Greely, it feels good to win again.”

Cost triggered the 15-0 run in the opening period with three bombs in 83 seconds, courtesy of Teel, Hanson and Owen Rudalevige.

Hanson and Christian Glover (nine points) also hit jumpers before Cost drove the right baseline for two to make it a double-digit lead. Later, Rudalevige tipped an offensive rebound to Glover for another open 3-pointer and an 18-7 cushion after one.

“In warmups I was shooting pretty well. I started off and the first one went in. I kept shooting and they kept falling,” Cost said. “That was my first night this season shooting that well, but in the past I’ve had nights like that, so I knew I was capable of it.”

EL’s best quarter was the second. The Eddies got within seven at 23-16 on a Tyler Morin 3-pointer and Samatar Iman’s basket following an offensive rebound by Austin Cox.

Wary of the Eddies’ ability to make lengthy runs, as they had in early games against Bangor and Oxford Hills, the Dragons settled it down on their next two possessions and worked it down low.

Teel provided a traditional 3-point play, then a put-back after five consecutive Brunswick offensive rebounds.

“EL is dangerous. We didn’t want to have one-pass possessions, so we really emphasized moving the ball around, attacking the rim and getting something inside, which we really took advantage of,” Hanson said.

The Eddies committed eight of their 16 turnovers in the third period to sabotage any comeback hopes. Six different Dragons made at least one steal in that span.

“We’re a better team than that,” Adams said. “Brunswick was a lot better than us tonight, but we’ve played them enough over the past year that I don’t think they’re 30 points better than us. But they were tonight, and that’s all that matters.”

koakes@sunjournal.com