Ejection

In the Game of the Day, Brunswick built a 16-point lead in front of a full house, but Mt. Ararat stormed back. They got within 4, but the Dragons held on for the win. Dakota Shipley had 13 & 10 in the win.

We had some drama in B North boys as Old Town hosted Ellsworth. (why wasn't this a boys/girls double-header?) Much like the girls game, this was a big one (and was nearly Game of the Day).

First, Old Town had this nice buzzer-beater to tie the game at the half (video courtesy of Ticket TV)

The game was close until with a little over a minute to play, this happened.

This is my third attempt at this, as the information keeps changing/clarifying.

So this has been a little tricky to parse out what Peter Webb's All-Stars have done. There's a double-technical against Chance Mercier, who is merely trying to provide some free job performance feedback. He's ejected from the game by one of the officials. You can clearly see that in the video.

Let's start with that. It's not super hard to figure out what the tech is for, maybe Mercier said one of George Carlin's 7 dirty words. Still, you can't eject a key player from the game with a minute left for language. You just can't. Because essentially the refs ended any opportunity Ellsworth had to win with the two technicals.

Intelligent people disagree on this point. I know some refs who very much disagree that a game should be called differently in the final minutes (even though we all know it is). One dude even created a Twitter account specifically to make this point (which is weird).

But, wait, there's more!

According to the Ticket TV broadcast, the first technical was Mercier's 5th foul, meaning his night was over, but it's unclear if that's the case or not. So it's possible the second technical was completely unnecessary. Either way, with the ejection Mercier will be suspended for Ellsworth's next game (tomorrow against Houlton) and Old Town was given 4 free throws to extend their lead from 5 to 9 with a minute to go. Plus Ellsworth lost their best player. It's hard to swing a game more than that.

There's been a bunch of confusion about this sequence of events, so it'd be nice if they would announce these things over the microphone, like the NBA does. It wouldn't be hard.

If you're curious: for a while, the word was that the first technical wasn't his, which opened up a very interesting hypothetical. And that's why the newsletter is so late today.

We finally got another team over 100, as Oceanside beat Morse 106-49 at home. Carter Galley had 33, which actually lowers his scoring average on the year all the way down to 36.3 ppg. Cohen Galley led the way with 38.

Elsewhere...

Megan Dearborn hit 2 clutch 3's to clinch a win for Cheverus...Bailey Breen dropped 44 on Morse...Kytana Williamson had 21 in Medomak's win at Erskine. The Panthers forced 39 turnovers...Mariam DeLisle's 22 led Lincoln Academy by MCI...Keagan McClure dropped 20 on Boothbay...Kory Donlin (27 & 14) and Gabe Lash (14 & 14) each had a double-double for Medomak...Gabe Hagar paced Lincoln Academy with 20...Gorham hit 19 3's in routing Sanford...Evan Hamm had 26 in Yarmouth's win over Wells...Silas Nielsen's double-double (15 & 11) paced Sacopee Valley...Nate Hebert had 22 as GNG rolled...Tyrie James dropped 23 as Windham finished with a 26-5 rally to beat Lewiston by 12...Maddie Cormier's layup was the game winner in 2OT as Freeport survived Westbrook...Maren Maxen had 10 & 12 to lead Wells over Yarmouth...Deering needed all of Natalie Santiago's 26 to beat Kennebunk in OT...The Sanford girls raced out to a 24-0 lead against Noble...Ali Portas had 21 as GNG came back down 16-4 to beat Falmouth...Ava Goulette had 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks as Piscataquis held on to beat Schenck.

Today is the first day of the Maine Event in Portland, which apparently I will not be attending, as my weeks of trying to navigate the maze of getting media credentials as been unsuccessful. But I guess there's still time.

Greely's Cheat Code, Anna DeWolfe, scored her 2,000th point last night in Notre Dame's win over Pitt.

This game-winner from Jokic is pretty awesome.

Nokomis and Cony is, in a lot of ways, the Game of the Day, but it also isn't.

We're heading all the way north where Anna Oliver and Hodgdon host Southern Aroostook.

Hodgdon is unbeaten and untested so far this year, waxing opponents by an average of 35.9 ppg (that's 5th best in the state) behind the dynamic Oliver, who earlier this year scored her 1,000th point. They are, so far, the second most dominant team in the state.

Southern Aroostook is, of course, a powerhouse in D North. They've won 4 of the last 5 state titles and find themselves in their usual position atop the standings.

But, they've got a loss on their record, a 49-47 stumble against Fort Kent at home. The same Fort Kent team Hodgdon has beaten twice by a combined 40 points.

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