Windham Rallies

I was already halfway down the coast, so I decided to swing on down to Falmouth for the Game of the Day between the Navigators and Windham.

Windham has been raising money all year for the Pat Moody Foundation, a non-profit set up to honor the memory of Pat Moody and benefits youth sports, not just in Windham, but in other communities in Maine. Part of it is these WWPD shirts you've maybe seen and that I, completely unplanned, was already wearing today (what luck!) and Falmouth wore during warmups. Falmouth also donated the proceeds from the concessions in last night's game.

It's a great cause!

After the tip, Windham came out fast. They went 5/7 from deep in the first quarter and 60% from the floor to open up a 24-14 lead after 1 and the Windham faithful were thrilled. For a bit, it looked like the Eagles might run away with it, but Falmouth is too good for that. The Navigators opened the 2nd quarter with a 13-3 run to even things up and the teams traded punches for the rest of the half as Falmouth got Davis Mann going (he had 12 in the second quarter alone) and Windham's 3-point shooting came back to earth (they went 2/8 in the quarter). At the half, Falmouth led 43-40.

In the third quarter, Falmouth's defense kicked into gear, holding Windham to 10 points on 23.5% shooting and Davis Mann gave them fits on the other end, using a collection of hitches and hesitations to get off shots that Windham's defense would normally send into the third row. The pushed the lead as high as 13 in the quarter. In the fourth, Falmouth took the lead back out to 15 with under 6 to play and it started to look like maybe Falmouth would run away with it.

But Windham is too good for that.

Braycen Freese got a bucket to stop the bleeding. Creighty Dickson hit a 3 to get the lead to single digits. But, more importantly, they turned up their defense in a big way. Windham was suddenly everywhere on the defensive end. They forced 9 Falmouth turnovers and had 8 steals in the fourth quarter alone. They also got a little lucky when AJ Moody deflected a ball into the backcourt, only to have it hit the official and keep rolling instead of going out of bounds. Moody chased it down to save the possession and then a few plays later hit a big three to cut the lead to 1. Creighty Dickson gave them the lead on the next possession and they kept going. In the end, it was a 22-3 run over the last 5 and a half minutes. Davis Mann hit a 3 to cut the lead to 2. Windham added a free throw, leaving Falmouth one last shot.

It really did feel like this game was headed for overtime.

Windham won 75-72, which was what the Model thought. It had Windham by 3.1.

I spoke to Creighty Dickson after the game, but there was an issue with the microphone, so I couldn't use it (sorry, Creighty). Dickson finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. AJ Moody added 16 & 7. And Braycen Freese had 15 and a couple of very clutch steals down the stretch. Davis Mann had 34 & 8 to lead Falmouth and for stretches was impossible to guard.

Speaking of impossible to guard, Kylie Lamson went off for 40.

Losing streak’s over, Cheverus girls basketball team has its ‘swagger back’

With Kylie Lamson (40 points) leading the way and a different defense paying dividends, the Stags earn a quality win over Sanford.

Press HeraldDrew BonifantPortland Press Herald

Here's Old Town's Emmitt Byther throwing one down.

Elsewhere:

Brunswick's Lexi Morin's career-high 30 points and 11 boards led the way against Fryeburg...Wells beat Lake Region behind 22 & 15 from Meg Mertens and 19 points, 6 steals, and 5 assists from Maren Maxon...Camden Pelletier had 27 in Wisdom's win over Ashland...Owen Sylvain had 19 in Biddeford's win at Bonny Eagle...Cheverus got 29 from Leo McNabb and 21 from Jameson Fitzpatrick to beat Sanford, who got 20 from Dylan Gendron...Kennebunk's Theo Pow had 24 in a win over Westbrook...Chase Coffin had 17 as Lincoln Academy handled Mt. View...Gabe Lash went off for 28 & 14 and Rocco DePatsy added 17 as Medomak beat Erskine...Levi Laverdiere dropped 27 and Bingham Abbott's 18 & 13 led Monmouth by Mt. Abram...Mt. Blue's Nolan Leso went for 28 against Skowhegan...Eli Smith's 24 wasn't enough for Cape against Poland. The Knights got 20 points and 6 dimes from Nick Jamo...Sam Morrill had 22 and Anthony Whittier added 19 & 11 in Rangeley's win over Temple...Adam Fitzgerald scored 16 of his 31 in the fourth quarter as Scarborough rallied to beat Bangor...Jace Bessey dropped 28 on Maranacook...J.J. Carlo had 20 in Waynflete's win over Traip...Kelsie Dunn had 21 in Erskine's win over Medomak Valley. The Panthers got 20 from Kytana Williamson and 19 boards from Chloe Fox...Cenzie Cunningham's 3 at the buzzer gave Kennebunk a win over Westbrook...Marshwood's Sarah Theriault had 19 in a win over York...Ella Pelletier's 24 led Oxford Hills over Portland...Poland's Lise Poublan had 21 in a win over Cape.

The MPA officially approved the new classification plan that just happens to look like the one I told you about back in December.

What a surprise!

Sweeping changes to Maine high school basketball proposed

A five-class basketball system that would double the number of Class AA teams is still a work in progress. The MPA also approved a more balanced four-class 11-man football structure.

Press HeraldSteve CraigPortland Press Herald

And here's the least surprising news of the year.

Lisbon High won’t renew football coach’s contract in wake of hazing allegations

Lisbon Superintendent Richard Green wrote in an email that Chris Kates will no longer coach the Greyhounds.

Press HeraldHaley JonesSun Journal

It's a pretty light schedule today, so this might not be the best game.

Caribou beat Fort Kent earlier this year 89-44 so I'm pretty sure the Model is low on this one. It doesn't factor in that "Caribou" beat "Fort Kent". It just looks at the numbers, so it sees two teams that have had pretty good years so far, score a lot of points, and win a lot of games.

But Caribou is really good. This might not be close.

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