The 1500

Let's start with the Game(s) of the Day, shall we?

I got there about 40 minutes before the girls game to find a line out the door.

This is where it helps to have a press pass.

The bleachers were full before the tip of the girls game and they locked the doors at halftime. It was standing-room only by then, with an estimated crowd of around 1,500 people.

Oceanside raced out to a 7-2 lead against a Medomak team that looked tentative and the Mariners led by 12-6 after 1, with Bailey Breen scoring 8 of their points (she would finish with 14) and Medomak shooting 21% from the floor.

Oceanside stretched the lead to 18-11 before Medomak's defense keyed a 10-0 run to take the lead (this was a night of runs). They had 6 steals in the 2nd quarter. Oceanside then answered with a 6-0 run of their own to take the lead at the half. They stretched that run to 12-0 in the 3rd. Back came Medomak. Kytana Williamson's 3 at the buzzer capped a 13-1 Panther run (she led all scorers with 15) and, man, that gym was LOUD.

They traded punches for most of the 4th quarter and with 3:50 to go, it was tied at 38-38.

Then Aubrianna Hoose got a steal and a bucket to break the tie (she had 12), and it was Oceanside's turn to go on a run, this time an 11-0 run (5 of them coming at the line as Medomak fouled late) and Oceanside held on for a 49-40 win to stay unbeaten.

In the boys game, Medomak came out in a pace you could certainly call deliberate, probably wise against an opponent averaging well over 90 points a game, and focused on slowing the Galley twins (easier said than done). So it was Ben Tripp who scored Oceanside's first 5 points and after 1 quarter, it was all tied at 12.

In the 2nd quarter, Medomak built a 5-point lead, but Zeb Foster put the Mariners on his back. He had 7 of his game-high 20 points in the 2nd quarter to keep the Mariners around as the Galleys were held scoreless until a Carter Galley put-back with 18 seconds left in the half (he had 11 on the night). Medomak's suffocating defense held the twins to 1-13 from the floor in the first half.

In the 3rd, Medomak stretched out to a 9 point lead before Carter Galley finally hit a 3 with 2:01 left in the third quarter. That kicked off a 13-0 Oceanside run to take the lead.

In the 4th, Oceanside found their offensive rhythm. They scored 21 points in the quarter on 7/8 shooting from the floor and 5/7 from the line (that's a TS% of 95%!) to hold on for a 57-47 win.

Gabe Lash (11 & 11) and Kory Donlin (11 & 17) each had a double-double for the Panthers.

To say it was a playoff atmosphere is an understatement. That was a late-round playoff atmosphere. If either of those were a Regional Final preview, we're in for a treat. I'm pretty sure all 1,500 will make the trip. As will, I assume, most of the additional 1,500 who watched the live stream.

Lincoln Academy saw a blow to their tourney prospects when starting center Tyson Ball broke his leg in the win over MCI on Saturday.

Lincoln boys handle MCI

Lincoln Academy boys basketball team defeated visiting MCI 67-32 on Saturday, Jan. 27. The physical game saw Eagle starter Tyson Ball break his leg in the first half. Lincoln was led in scoring by…

The Lincoln County NewsPaula Roberts

The Eagles are in the midst of their best season in a while and had just pushed Oceanside to the limit, so this is a big loss.

Hopefully Tyson can make a full recovery.

Let's head North, where Machias (12-1) is up 1 on Schenck (12-0) with 25 seconds left.

Side note: there's a number of small schools that have gotten pretty good at streaming games. Machias is a school with 166 kids and this is better than most southern Maine school-run feeds. Greenville's (enrollment: 58) is one of the best in the state. There's some pretty great things happening north of Augusta.

Anyway...

I am on record (many, many times over) saying I don't like the Intentional Foul call when we all know the team has to foul, but that sure doesn't look like a common foul to me. That's a bit much.

But they called it a common foul.

Machias missed the 2nd free throw and Schenck raced down to score in transition to tie the game. They would prevail in overtime.

You know, all you want is consistency.

But, also: make your free throws.

Let's go to Skowhegan.

That's Ryan Parent calling GAME at the buzzer for Messo.

Elsewhere...

Scott Chadbourne had 28 and Brady Gaw added 20 as Piscataquis beat GSA...Searsport's Julianna Sprague had 21, but it wasn't enough to beat Pine Tree...South Portland erased a 9-point deficit at the half to beat Thornton Academy. Manny Hidalgo had 24 and Gabe Galarraga added 22...Kade Ippolito's 22 wasn't enough for Greely, as they lost to Yarmouth. They had 4 players in double figures...Brady Plante had 24 in OOB's win over Poland. The Knights got 25 from Nick Jamo...Brunswick (2-11) opened with a 17-1 run, but Freeport (12-3) came all the way back to claim the win... Evan Legassey's 21 led Deering over Bonny Eagle...Nate Oney's 24 wasn't enough as NYA fell to Hall-Dale...Brock Gibbons's 20 led Lake Region over Cape...Lyla Dunphe's 3 sealed Westbrook's win over Fryeburg...Breanna Bartlett's go-ahead 3 in overtime led Poland past OOB...Maya Gayle had 16 & 9 as Deering beat Kennebunk...Winthrop's Madeline Wagner dropped 25 on Waynflete.

Parker Sergent joined Cony's 1K club and--hey--that's Simon McCormick!

Sean Stackhouse posted a pretty interesting thing about the state of JV basketball.

The full text:

We need a fundamental change to subvarsity basketball in this state. I've seen so many awful attempts at the sport this year, and read about many more. Nothing of any value is gained from a lopsided JV game. Frankly very little is gained from actual games. You learn through preparation - practice, primarily. You apply that to games and then you gain feedback on what works or doesn't, and you make changes.

My proposal: Subvarsity games shouldn't just automatically be scheduled with varsity games. Instead, they should be controlled scrimmages scheduled with teams of similar ability. Run X possessions each way, and set up some time & score situations. You can bang a whole bunch of these out on a Saturday with several teams in a sort of round robin rotation, and if it happens to line up that you have a varsity game with two relatively equal JV teams, then run it as a game too. But automatically having a JV/freshman game when they're literally 40 points apart, there is no value there.

I like this idea a lot.

No one cares if the JV team wins. It's a weird flex. And I've never understood these JV tournaments. But doing situational stuff? I love that. JV basketball should be all about teaching kids, so putting them in learning situations is a fantastic idea.

We've got another coaching milestone, this time at MDI.

Also, the Falmouth football story has been picked up by all the wrong places.

The Maine Wire is not a news outlet. They're a joke.

Here's a real journalist.

Falmouth High football coach resigns in wake of players’ petition

John Fitzsimmons had resisted pressure from parents, but after players asked the school board to replace him, he said ‘it wasn’t fair for them or for me to stay.’

Press HeraldSteve CraigPress Herald

I never played football (we didn't have youth football) and I'm not going to pretend to have any additional information about this, but...

What I do know is that a petition like this requires a lot of courage from the kids. It goes beyond parents being difficult. And they definitely don't deserve to be dragged through the mud by some tabloid.

We're heading to Dexter, where the Tigers are sitting in 9th place in C North. But the Tourney Odds think they have very little chance of staying there.

They've got a wide range still. They could go as high as 5th or as low as 14th, but to stay at 9 is only 14.7%, so they'll need every Heal Point they can get.

They've got an opportunity tonight with Bangor Christian, currently sitting in 3rd in D North. But they're also unlikely to stay there, as they project as most likely in the 4/5 game.

Bangor Christian as the top scoring defense in the state. Dexter has the 15th best scoring defense.

Points will be at a premium in this one.

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