A Flop Technical

Oh there was drama a-plenty Saturday night in Readfield as Marancook hosted Mount Abram. First, the Maranacook student section had the audacity, the gall, to turn their backs during the introductions. Personally, I think that stuff is great.

The game was a high-scoring affair. Maranacook led 25-21 after the first, thanks to a hot start from Jack Fontaine (he finished with 27 points and 9 rebounds). They extended the lead to 11 at the half and ultimately prevailed with a 76-64 win. Gage Mattson (Year of the Freshmen) added 24 and Abram's Brennan Mitchell had 30 points and 14 boards.

Mike Mandell was there.

Maranacook boys basketball takes down Mt. Abram

Jack Fontaine goes off in the first quarter as the Black Bears lead wire-to-wire, improving to 4-0.

Centralmaine.comMike MandellStaff Writer

It was a highly entertaining game between two good teams, but I promised you drama.

Drama:

Yeah, that's a flop technical.

First, let's make sure we understand the rule.

Faking being fouled is defined in Rule 4-49-1 as when a player simulates being fouled or makes theatrical or exaggerated movements when there is no illegal contact. Examples include, but are not limited to, embellishing the impact of incidental contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using a “head bob” to simulate illegal contact and using any tactic to create an opinion of being fouled to gain an advantage.

If you want to do a deep dive, here you go.

Sometimes I'll post a video like this on social media and the outrage is pretty uniform, but on this one, there's a lot of disagreement on whether or not the call was correct. I thought it was a block and not a flop at all, but others disagree. There was something of a head reaction by the defender and maybe that's what the officials reacted to, but I thought he actually took a shot to the chin.

But there's more! Earlier in the game, with 6 minutes left in the 3rd, Mt. Abram's Owen Cook picked up his fourth foul and the officials T'ed him up for saying "oh, come on". And it wasn't "Oh, come ON!" It was a subdued, frustrated response that didn't rise anywhere near the level of a technical from my vantage point and the technical, of course, fouled him out of the game. They could have used him.

Elsewhere

Nolan Ames had 29 & 9 in Camden's win over Bangor...Colin Schlobohm had 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in Leavitt's win over Oceanside...Landon Hartwell, who is in the 8th grade, led a balanced Valley attack with 17...Tatum French paced Boothbay with 19 against Sacopee Valley...Maddie Provost's 23 and Ashley Shores' 24 led Lawrence's win over Skowhegan...the Mt. Ararat girls held Fryeburg to nine points. They won...Brendan Shaw's 16 led Brunswick over Messo...Hall-Dale's Karter Eldridge scored 19 to overcome 23 (on 7 3's) from Wells' Kevin Bolduc...Jacob Linkletter and Brady Philbrick each scored 20, but Linkletter got more help and Madison beat Dirigo...Mason Nguyen had 22 & 11, Kollin Donlin added 20, and Medomak Valley won at GNG...Poland's Jake Jamo dropped 24 on Greely...Dylan Jewett had 19 as Spruce nearly doubled up Traip...Jack Flaherty's 19 led Winslow over Mount View...Addie Hafford had a huge 12 & 19, but it wasn't enough for Messo to take down Brunswick...Anna Morse had 19 & 12 in Cape's win over Lincoln Academy...Elsie Mann had 32 points for North Haven, but it wasn't enough to beat Forest Hills...Delia Hill had 22 and Liana Hartwell added 20 as Valley rolled over Vinalhaven.

Well that's one way to get open.

There was no call.

We're 3-4 games into the season, so it's time to start paying attention to the rankings and I think we're off to a pretty good start.

On Tuesday, Camden heads to Medomak and I haven't looked at the numbers yet, but it seems like a good bet for Game of the Day. Get in line now.

This is very cool.

Imagine your high school football coach suddenly getting the call to play in the NFL.

Ashland is 3-0 on the season with one of the stingiest defenses in the state, giving up 23 points a game. They'll host Katahdin, a team averaging nearly 60 points a game, that's 11th best in the state so far.

A top defense vs. a top offense. A tale as old as time.

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