Monsoon Monday
It's gonna be a wet one today.
It didn't take long to get our first 1,000 point scorer of the night, as Pierce Walston hit the benchmark as Orono kicked off their title defense with a win over MDI.
Defending Class B champs Orono boys hoops received their rings on Saturday in a special pregame ceremony! It may have been 9 months ago, but this moment showed many on the squad what being a state champion truly means to a community. @FoxABCMaine #mesports https://t.co/ITgBjPdlvy pic.twitter.com/JyID9EnFBk
— Ryan Sudol (@RyanSudolWVII) December 10, 2023
Sumner's long road trip finally came to an end Saturday, and by all accounts, it was worth the wait.
Can confirm the new Sumner gym is NICE pic.twitter.com/2VMQe11wgj
— Cole Hurlbert (@TheColeHurlbert) December 9, 2023
And if you were fortunate enough to make the trip for the game, you got a treat, a 88-85 overtime win for Machias.
Elsewhere...
Forest Hills had 5 players in double figures as they moved to 2-0 with a win over Vinalhaven...JT Pound's 26 led Freeport past Noble...Peyton Reckards's 31 and 18 wasn't quite good enough for Temple, as they fell to Wiscasset in overtime. Wiscasset is now 1-0 for the first time in a long time...Mackenzie Robbins hit 5 3s as Madison won their opener...Liana Hartwell had 25 as Valley won at the ACC.
If you don't follow the cross-country scene in Maine, you might not have heard, but we currently have arguably the greatest high school running career the state has ever scene from Orono's Ruth White. White has won the New England regional a stunning 3 times and then she went and finished 6th at Nationals, a mere 0.1 seconds from the top 5.
Ruth White with an excellent race at Footlocker Nationals finishing 6th in the country. pic.twitter.com/lDGF3BJROJ
— MaineTrackXC (@MaineTrackXC) December 9, 2023
In college basketball, the UMaine men are off to a pretty good start. They're now ranked 3rd in America East (courtesy of Tanner McGrath).
They're up to 209th overall on KenPom.com. Pretty good for a team that was in 320 range last year.
If you haven't heard of the "Silent Night" tradition at Taylor University, you're in for a treat.
The moment the silence was broken 🤫
— Ethan Dahlen (@ethanjdahlen) December 9, 2023
One of the coolest environments I have ever been in for college sports, more video on Taylor University's "Silent Night" to come!
(Video via @taylortrojans) pic.twitter.com/IH4hmgwV6I
Once a year, they stay completely silent until the home team reaches 10 points, then mayhem.
There's also singing.
Imagine being in the crowd of the Silent Night game at Taylor University 😯pic.twitter.com/mJVTbn6ng8
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 9, 2023
Over at his podcast, Adam Robinson has an interview with Chance Mercier, one of the top candidates for Mr. Basketball.
We go to C North girls where Mattanawcook rocketed up the rankings with a 38-point win over last year's 2 seed Calais. That's a win that looks really impressive now, but will probably not look so great in a week or two. The rankings are really volatile until we get 3-4 games deep. They'll travel to Central to take on the Red Devils. They made short work of GSA in their opener.
I'm guessing the Model is too high on Mattanawcook, but we'll see.
We've already got one postponement on the docket for today. You can see others as they come in on the Scoreboard.
The rest of today's schedule is after the jump.