With its undefeated record on the line, Edward Little came up with clutch shots Friday night and earned its biggest victory to date, going two overtimes to defeat perennial power Portland 61-56 in a midseason showdown of Class AA North boys’ basketball contenders at the Portland Expo.

Austin Brown of Edward Little hit a 3-pointer to end regulation and Pedro Fonseca of Portland converted two foul shots to force the second overtime before Max Creaser’s two layups finally helped the Red Eddies put it away.

Creaser finished with a game-high 30 points and Brown added 17 for Edward Little (7-0), the defending state champion.

“Luckily we got out of here with a big win for us and hopefully we’ll keep getting better,” said Eddies Coach Mike Adams.

Portland (5-3) got an early layup from Jeremiah Alado and a free throw from Trey Ballew with 5:48 to go in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs, despite Coach Joe Russo playing everyone on the roster in an attempt to find a spark, didn’t score again in the quarter. Edward Little closed on an 11-0 run to take a 16-3 lead.

A Lewis Gaddas 3-pointer awakened Portland early in the second quarter and the Bulldogs drew as close as 22-16 on a 3-pointer from Stillman Mahan, but the Red Eddies held a 28-19 advantage at the break.

Portland heated up from outside the arc in the third quarter and made it 30-30 on Fonseca’s 3-pointer.

After Edward Little went back up by five, a 3-pointer from Simon Chadbourne gave Portland a 38-37 lead before a last-second layup from Creaser gave the Red Eddies a one-point advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs looked to be on the brink of victory when Bellew made a layup with 1:32 remaining, but a putback from Wol Maiwen cut Edward Little’s deficit to three, and with 7.7 seconds left, Brown buried a 3-pointer to force overtime.

“I knew there wasn’t much time left so I just tried to give my team a chance to go to overtime,” said Brown.

Neither team scored in the first overtime until a late 3-pointer from Brown. This time Portland rallied: Mahan made a free throw and Fonseca added two foul shots with one-tenth of a second remaining to extend the game.

In the second overtime, layups from Maiwen and a pair from Creaser finally proved too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.

“Passes were coming to me and shots were falling,” Creaser said. “Our defensive intensity was there (in the second overtime).”

The Bulldogs were paced by 15 points apiece from Mahan and Gaddas, but suffered their second close loss this week.

“This game could have gone either way,” Russo said. “(Edward Little) is one heck of a team but we can play with anybody. I told the kids I’m very proud of how they played tonight. They gave their heart and soul.”

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