AUBURN — Ian Mileikis surveyed the football field through his facemask, planted both feet and cocked his arm to throw the way he’d been coached since peewee level.

The rest of what transpired was such a split-second blur that Mileikis can’t quite recount it in order. Clean, blindside hit below the knee. A gruesome, telltale snap. The ripping and tearing sensation. Searing pain like the Edward Little High School athlete had never experienced in his life.

He didn’t need X-rays or an orthopedic surgeon to tell him that his junior football season was over or that his basketball season was in jeopardy. What the official diagnosis did tell Mileikis might have been more agonizing than the injury itself.

“When I first broke it, they told me they didn’t think I was going to be able to run again,” Mileikis said. “They said they could make it as good as they can, but it’ll never be as good as it was.”

Mileikis suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg. Additionally, all ligaments providing stability to the ankle were torn. Based on the case history of such lower-leg catastrophe, doctors were only cautiously optimistic that Mileikis someday would walk without a limp.

Thirteen weeks later, he made a miraculous return to the basketball court for EL’s traditional season-ending game against Lewiston, plus two Class A East tournament contests.

He wasn’t even close to completely healed. The journey is ongoing. But more than a year after that devastating detour, Mileikis — his upper body chiseled and on-court skills broadened by the experience — has emerged as one of the state’s most outstanding players.

“It’s incredible what he’s done,” Edward Little coach Mike Adams said. “I’ve never seen a high school kid’s body transform in one year like his. He was an animal in the weight room. You can put this in. I’m not proud of it. In my 14 years at EL, he’s the only basketball player I’ve had that’s out-benched me. I’m 42. That’s my excuse. I’m old.”

Mileikis is leading the Red Eddies to success on the court that is nothing new, either.

His opening-night buzzer-beater against Oxford Hills delivered the first of a dozen consecutive victories for EL heading into Monday’s showdown at Hampden (11-1). Mileikis and fellow seniors Llewellyn Jensen, Kaleb Main, Elijah Roe and Luke Sterling recently helped Adams celebrate his 200th win at the school.

Two of the Eddies’ triumphs are by a single point. Another pair have come by two points.

“We struggled last year, and it sucked that I couldn’t help them at all,” Mileikis said of his motivation. “I just wanted to be on the court.”

Although it was not explicitly a compound fracture, Mileikis’ injury was as crippling in an athletic context as the ones famously experienced by the NFL’s Joe Theismann and Tim Krumrie and former Louisville basketball standout Kevin Ware.

He underwent reconstructive surgery three days after the fateful play, which took place in a football playoff game at Windham. Doctors inserted a plate that had to stay in place for nearly a year.

The ensuing depression was understandable. Few friends saw Mileikis for about three weeks into his recovery.

“I don’t think I left my bed,” he said.

It would be still another three weeks before Mileikis could put enough weight on his leg to be fitted for a walking boot. After that, he attended physical therapy sessions three days a week.

What did occur to Mileikis in the meantime, however, is that crutches could transport him to the school’s fitness room, a place with which EL players have become intimately acquainted in Adams’ tenure.

“I was doing upper body (exercise) the whole time through it. I thought I might as well. I couldn’t do anything else,” Mileikis said. “It’s made a huge, huge difference. In that time, upper body-wise, I probably gained 15 pounds. I’m much stronger this year. I used to be a guard, quick, more an in-and-out type guy, but now I can bang with the big guys. I was guarding Andrew Fleming (of Oxford Hills). It allowed me to do that kind of stuff.”

It’s the first thing anyone who knew Mileikis as a basketball player before his injury notices when he sheds the scarlet-and-white warmup threads.

The second stark contrast becomes apparent in the flow of the game. Mileikis was a regular contributor in the backcourt as a quick freshman and slender sophomore. He was poised to be the starting point guard as a junior before disaster struck.

“He just got in the weight room and attacked it. The first four or five games, he was so much stronger than everybody that he was able to rip and get by and score a lot that way,” Adams said. “Now that teams are keying on him, he’s done a great job the last few games of getting rid of the ball quicker, and we’re a better team when he passes the ball.”

Mileikis scored 19 points against Oxford Hills in the dramatic 62-61 victory Dec. 5. There have been other big nights: 22 points at Bangor; 23 despite fouling out with six minutes to go against Lawrence.

Such production still felt miles away when EL embarked on its aggressive summer schedule.

“Summer I knew I was going to play, but I was still irritated because I had the plate in. This fall I got the plate out. I played a lot of basketball and was still rehabbing, and that’s when I really got back to normal, or as close to normal as I’m going to be,” Mileikis said. “I don’t think it will ever be perfect, but as close as I’m going to get. I’m not complaining, from the prognosis of maybe never walking (without a limp) or never running.”

Mileikis was accustomed to playing through adversity, and pain, long before his injury. His father, Kent, died unexpectedly while on a hunting trip the first week of Ian’s freshman year.

“He’s just happy to be on the floor,” Adams said. “He’s been through a lot in his high school career, and I think he’s learning to be a better teammate, a better leader, and a better basketball player. It’s been fun to watch him grow as a young man.”

College recruiters abruptly turned away after Mileikis’ injury.

He has seen them return with fervor this winter, he said. Although he plans to continue playing, no final decision has been made.

Perhaps that’s because the immediate priority is the upcoming regional tournament at Augusta Civic Center.

Where EL has won a quarterfinal game seven consecutive Februarys. Where Mileikis won’t have to approach the game at half-speed this time.

“I think we just have a great team this year,” Mileikis said. “If they’re going to focus on taking me away or Llewellyn away, we have 10 more players that can step up and score. I don’t think we have any weak spots on the team.”

As is commonly said of broken bones, once they heal, they’re stronger than before.