Call it a Comeback

The last time Yarmouth faced Medomak Valley in basketball was the very first meeting between the two schools, a Regional Final in which Yarmouth stormed back from a 12-3 early deficit en route to an eventual state title.

Saturday Medomak traveled to Yarmouth for the second-ever meeting and for a while, it was déjà vu. The Panthers raced out to a 14-point lead in the first half, but Yarmouth rallied, erasing that and building their own 9-point lead with 2 minutes to play. However, Medomak wasn't done. They ripped off a 9-0 run to close out regulation and force Yarmouth into their third consecutive overtime game.

Medomak eventually prevailed in double-overtime, 63-58, evening the all-time series 1-1. Can you have a rivalry after two games?

Michael Hoffer was there and had his usual stellar dispatch.

Boys’ basketball: Medomak Valley rallies, beats Yarmouth in double OT

The Panthers overcome a nine-point deficit in the final two minutes of regulation, then go on to a 63-58 win.

Press HeraldMICHAEL HOFFERThe Forecaster

And if that's not enough, the Yarmouth girls erased an 8-0 deficit in the girls game.

Further north, the Presque Isle girls were looking at a long bus ride home. Trailing John Bapst 36-12 at the half, things didn't look good for a team scoring a little over 40 points a game.

But something clicked at halftime, because the Wildcats held Bapst to 7 points in the second half coming all the way back from 24 down to stun the Crusaders, 47-43.

And then, for fun, we had some buzzer-beaters to close out 2023.

First in Houlton.

And then at Cony.

Elsewhere...

Nate Hebert's 5 3s and 29 points paced GNG. Noah Hebert added 4 and 22...Evans Sterling had 36 as Mount Blue crushed Camden...Monmouth's Sammy Calder dropped 34 on Boothbay...Tristan Robbins had 26 & 16 for Caribou...Madelynn Deprey had 32 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 9 steals in the girls game...Eli Mosher had 21 to lead the Presque Isle boys...Anna Oliver had 25 for Hodgdon.

The New Year is a time for reflection and goals.

The subscriber count for this newsletter is up 288% over last year, which is fantastic. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Boys Tourney Odds are up and running.

If you're new to these parts, here's how it works.

The Model makes projections for every game in the state and using a random number generator and a Monte Carlo Simulation--actually 130 Monte Carlo Simulations inside a large Monte Carlo Simulation--it simulates the rest of the season 1,000 times and calculates Heal Points standings for each of those 1,000 seasons.

If you make the Tourney in all 1,000 of those simulations, it projects you into the Tourney. If you make it in 0, you're out. 1K simulations isn't enough to find the combination where the 6-0 team loses their last 12, but it will easily find a 6 loss season for a 6-0 team.

It will also tell you the likelihood you get it depending on your record.

If you're wondering, no one has ever made the tourney after being designated as "OUT" and no one has missed the tourney after being designated as "IN".

It's very accurate.

It will also tell you what seed you're likely to be.

This is definitely a paid feature.

The Girls numbers should be up soon.

We've got some good options today.

An unbeaten Bangor team takes on a 2-2 Oxford Hills team that's much better than their record. A Lincoln Academy team that's probably ranked too low hosts a rivalry game.

But for the Game of the Day, we go to Gorham, as a Rams host TA.

Gorham is 4th in the Heal Points, despite being the second-best team in the region in the Power Rankings.

Thornton Academy has the best scoring differential in AA, but they've also played the second-easiest schedule in AA.

Thomas Curtis should have this on Gorham's NFHS stream.

The rest of today's games are after the jump.