The AA Round-Up: January 2nd, 2024

Boys: Windham 67, Cheverus 62

Blake McPherson's 24 points were enough to lift the Eagles over Cheverus, the previous AA North 1 seed, Tuesday night.

He knocked down a game high 6 threes while Tyree James trailed behind him with 3.

Cheverus looked unstoppable to begin the year, but after the Christmas break they've stumbled a little bit. A 59-51 loss to Cheverus rounded out their 2023, and now they open up 2024 with one to Windham.

Leo McNabb's 23 points weren't enough for the Stags, who only had one scorer in double figures behind him.

Girls: Gorham 38, Thornton Academy 34

The Rams entered this one at 3-2 coming off a big win over 5th ranked Sanford (5-2) last Friday. Before our broadcast, I wrote that Gorham just needed to stay competitive in this one to have some confidence rolling into the second half of the schedule.

The Golden Trojans entered this one at 6-1, scoring 75 points a contest. Gorham was going to have to flip their poor offensive start to the season on its head if they wanted to pull off an upset.

Or not...?

Gorham led at half, by the small margin of 14-13. Their third quarter was one of the most abysmal displays of shooting I've ever seen. Somehow, after the Rams scored only 6 points in the penultimate frame, they were only down 28-20.

Someone must have snuck down on the court with a ladder to pull the lid off the rim in between quarters, because the Rams finally came alive to start the fourth.

Ellie Gay, who finished with 15, kickstarted a 10-0 run with a corner 3 on the first possession of the final period.

The run was enough to put Gorham ahead for good, giving them a big win to open up the New Year and a boost up to first in AA South.

Boys: Gorham 71, Thornton Academy 41

A depleted Thornton Academy team, missing two starters (Josh Ney, Trey Eldred) due to illness, just never found it in a game where Gorham never lost it.

Ashton Leclerc set a Gorham High School record by making 9 three pointers in a game where he finished with 31. The thing that got me about his performance: It didn't seem like he was doing anything special. It was just, "Ashton can't miss tonight". That's how talented a scorer he is.

Without Ney or Eldred, Gorham could focus most of their defensive efforts on Wyatt Benoit. Gabe Michaud did an excellent job to hold Benoit to only 8 points on the night, an impressive feat against one of the best scorers this class has to offer.

Elsewhere...

Maddie Fitzpatrick put up another 20/10 in the stat sheet to keep Cheverus unbeaten... Ruth Boles added 19 of her own in that one... Makai Bougie's 26 points were enough to push the Sanford boys past Bonny Eagle... and Sanford's girls got back in the win column over Bonny Eagle with 3 double-digit scorers.

Both Thornton Academy teams have a chance to bounce back with a big heal point opportunity against Scarborough tomorrow. The boys are immediately back in the conversation for a title run with a win. The girls have to solidify another scoring option after an injury to sophomore guard Kylie Lamson, it will be a great test against Caroline Hartley and the Red Storm.

Thursday should be fun.