Road Running

Lucas McNelly -

In the Game of the Day, Mount Abram's offense won the battle. They put up 79 points on Madison, more than double their average on the season. Madison, for their part, were unable to keep pace, posting their lowest score of the season.

But the best part (for me) is this quote in the Kennebec Journal:

“Maine Basketball Rankings, we looked at their post (online) today and it said (the matchup) was (an offensive team vs. a defensive team),” Mt. Abram head coach John Chase said. “I told our guys, ‘Hey, let’s work on defense tonight. Think defense, defense, defense.’ I’m entirely happy with that win.”
Boys basketball: Mt. Abram cruises past Madison in battle of unbeatens
Roadrunners tally 31 points in first quarter and never look back in win over Bulldogs.
Kennebec Journal and Morning SentinelDave DyerKennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel

Bryce Wilcox led the Roadrunners with 23. Mount Abram moves to 8-0 and within striking distance of Richmond.

Heal Points

Elsewhere, on a light night full of teams that aren't great at reporting...

Madison Parks ha 13 & 14 to lead Fort Fairfield...Emma Landry paced Southern Aroostook with 28...Pete Vicneire had 24 as Carrabec beat Forest Hills...The Belfast girls beat Lincoln Academy 33-30. Don't look now, but they're 7-1.

Thomas and Cole have another podcast episode available wherever you podcast. They run through, well, a lot.

Be sure to check it out!

Mike Mandell has a great write-up on the Cooper Flagg experience.

Sidelines: How did Cooper Flagg make this happen? ‘Come on’
Making sense of the way the Newport native captivated in his return home is easy, Mike Mandell writes.
Kennebec Journal and Morning SentinelMike MandellKennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel

I'm loving how WHOU is embracing their new Twitter profile.

A lot of tomorrow's games are on the move, because of the storm. The pro-active schools are playing earlier. Some might push. So check with a school before you drive to a gym.

So check the Scoreboard. And then double-check with the schools, just in case.

Scoreboard

My social media notifications last night were full of people asking me about the Gorham/Cheverus boys game. It makes sense. It's #1 vs #2 in the Power Rankings and if this game had been last week, before Cheverus lost to Windham, it's maybe the Game of the Day. But Gorham has separated itself lately, so it's not. [Stax Index: 82.4]

The Stax Index is a formula that tells you how interesting a game should be. The highest Stax Index is the Game of the Day.

Also in Cumberland County, the Deering boys host Portland. Portland is 6-2 and Deering is 4-5, but the Model thinks this could be a really close one. [Stax Index: 84.7]

The Windham boys, unbeaten and coming off wins last week over Cheverus and Portland, host a Falmouth team that's 7-1 with the only loss coming to Gorham. [Stax Index: 86.1]

As good as Falmouth has been, they're sitting behind a surprising Freeport team in A South. The Falcons have won 6 straight and host York, 8-1 and sitting in 3rd place in B South. [Stax Index: 87.8]

A little further north, Old Town hosts Orono in the convoluted B North Boys. Old Town is 8-0 and in first place in the region, while Orono is 8-1 and coming off a loss at Caribou on Saturday.

If you look at the statistical profiles of these two teams, they're really, really similar. They are 24th and 25th in scoring and 14th and 18th in scoring differential. They're 54th and 59th in Strength of Schedule.

And more importantly, they're #3 and #4 in the Power Rankings.

This should be a barn burner.

[Stax Index: 91.4]

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