A Football Play in a Basketball Game

Well the Game of the Day was a bust.

The Bangor girls jumped out to a 14-5 first quarter lead and just kept going, making short work of Windham, 49-30. Dalaney Horr led the way with 11 as the Rams improve to 6-3.

Laster that evening, I drove up to Camden for a boys/girls doubleheader between Camden and Medomak Valley.

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This was billed on Instagram as the "Game of the Week", which is laughable when you consider that it wasn't even the biggest game of the week for either of the teams involved. Medomak handed Spruce Mountain their first loss of the year two days prior, which had massive Heal Points implications. As for Camden, they beat 6-2 Messo just before the turning of the year, a huge win for their ambitions in A North. It wasn't even the most interesting game played in that gym, as the girls' game promised to be far more interesting.

And you know what? It was!

Medomak Valley nursed a small lead for much of the first half until Camden's Maren Johnson beat the buzzer to tie the game 23-23 at halftime. Then Thea Laukka had a huge 3rd quarter, scoring 8 of her 12 points, and Camden controlled the glass and all of a sudden a 10-2 run had Camden up 8. After 3, it was 40-34.

And then Medomak's defense kicked in, holding the Windjammers without a field goal in the 4th quarter, forcing 5 turnovers, and flipping the rebounding advantage. Camden had chances in the final minute, but Medomak prevailed 44-42.

The boys game was uneventful, until it wasn't. Medomak's defense held Camden without a field goal until Nolan Ames got on the board with 34 seconds left in the opening quarter. At the half, Medomak led 35-17 and had held Camden's top-ranked offense to 29% from the field.

Then, with 1:36 left in the third quarter, Medomak's Gabe Lash was fouled on a dunk and was down for 30 seconds or so in some pain. I was sitting next to Camden's Jon Duke (past guest on the podcast) and as Lash was on the floor, he said "this is a perfect example of what's wrong with dunk technicals." He's right. If we're so worried about safety that we're getting rid of the one-and-one, we should be letting kids stay up on the rim until they can be sure they can land safely. This is not complicated. If they do a pull up on the rim, fine. Give them a tech. But no one needs to get hurt just to avoid the Peter Webb All-Stars.

Then a few seconds later, Lash again got out in transition.

Uh oh.

The Camden defender, who I won't name, made what can generously be called a "football play". The refs huddled and called an intentional foul, which in real time felt like the correct call. There were people in the Medomak contingent who felt the penalty should be anything from an intentional foul to a banishment from ever playing basketball again, but I think the intentional foul was the right call. Looking at the replay, it looks like he's sort of going for the ball, but it's hard to tell. I'd like to see a better angle of it.

There's obviously no place for a play like that in basketball, but there's really no place for it in a game that's essentially over. This isn't football. It was suggested to me by people in the Medomak football program that perhaps Camden is ready to play "real football". I do love some cross-sport trash talking.

Lash returned to the game to start the 4th quarter.

Camden tried to make a game of it in the 4th as Medomak went deeper into their bench. Or maybe they were trying to beat the spread of 10.3. In the end, they couldn't get there. Medomak won by 12 in a game that wasn't nearly that close.

Lash finished with 15 & 11. Nolan Ames had 19 for Camden.

A classic case of Instagram vs. Reality.

I dug into all of this and more in this week's podcast

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Elsewhere:

Jordyn Crump dropped 26 on Westbrook...Creighty Dickson had 20 as Windham stayed unbeaten...Kade Ippolito led Greely with 26 in a win over Sanford...Braden Rodrigue went off for 30 and Derek Couture had 23 in Winslow's win over Waterville...The Erskine girls erased a 15-point deficit, but Gardiner held on for a 1-point win...Julia Reed's 19 points helped Gorham deal Cheverus their third loss in a row...Izzy Morelli's 21 led GNG over Noble...Kennebunk got a double-double (11 & 11) from Kendall Therrien against Fryeburg...Gabby Smith had 16 & 10 and clutch free throws late to give Leavitt a win over Poland...Lincoln Academy was led by Mariam DeLisle's 17 as they beat Mountain Valley...Deering's Angelina Keo had 25, but it wasn't enough to beat Marshwood, who got 16 from both Natalie Lathrop and Sarah Theriault...Maddie Grimaldi had 25 as Spruce got back in the win column against Lake Region...Buckfield's Krosby Harvey went off for 32 in Buckfield's win over Forest Hills...Leo McNabb had 21 in Cheverus' win over Gorham...Deering needed all of Evan Legassey's 21 points and 10 rebounds to survive Scarborough's 4th quarter rally...Akol Maiwen hit 7 3's for 23 points and Diing Maiwen added 20 as Edward Little beat Bonny Eagle...Davis Mann had 25 in Falmouth's win over Brunswick...Hall-Dale's Keegan Cary scored 19 in a win over Sacopee Valley...Sean Achorn's buzzer-beating put-back gave Messo a win over Lewiston...Mt. Abram's Brennan Mitchell went off for 30 against Carrabec...Jamier Rose (24) out-dueled John Patenaude (23) in Noble's win over GNG...Manny Hidalgo had 23 as SoPo blew out Portland...Cai Dougher had 22 in Spruce's win over Lake Region...St. Dom's Taylor Varney juuuust missed a triple-double with 9 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in a win over Dirigo...Peyton Reckards had 11 & 10 as Temple got their first win of the year...Reece MacDonald's 30 helped York stay unbeaten.

It's early January, so that means the Tourney Odds are here!

Tourney Odds

Will your team make the tournament?

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly

If you're new here, the Tourney Odds simulate the rest of the season 1,000 times using a Monte Carlo Simulation to determine if your team is IN, OUT, or has work to do. This isn't an exact mathematical elimination, as there are like a gazillion trillion different scenarios, but this covers the most likely ones.

Here's B North girls.

Caribou is 100% in, which means that in the 1,000 simulations, the Model found none where they miss the playoffs. Sure, something crazy could happen and they could lose out, but they won't. In 86% of simulations Caribou is the 1 seed, but if that falls apart, 7 different teams could theoretically get there.

As the season progresses, these bands will tighten and we'll get clarity. Like we already have in B South Girls.

Here we already know, baring a collapse, that our top 4 seeds will be Spruce, Medomak, Biddeford, and Oceanside, in some order.

This is shockingly accurate. When I tracked it in 2018-19, it got 94.9% of the tournament field right with a month left in the season.

This is obviously a paid feature. If you haven't already, you should upgrade!

We're in B North on a pretty light night of basketball.

The Old Town girls lost 3 of their first 4, but have won 3 of 4 since then, including a nice win over Ellsworth. They're -9 on the season, but have played one of the tougher schedules in B North.

MDI is 5-1 with a signature win over Caribou and a win over Ellsworth.

Both these teams project as IN in the Tourney Odds, but the big question will be the bye. MDI is 72% to grab one of the byes. Old Town projects as the 6, just outside the bye line, so they could really use this one.

The Model thinks they have a pretty good chance.

The rest of the Model's picks for today's game are after the jump.