Ellsworth at the Buzzer

The Game of the Day lived up to the hype and then some.

MDI headed to Ellsworth for a quarterfinal preview. Down 17 in the third, Ellsworth rallied behind a career-high 21 points from Bryce Hart. He did everything down the stretch except hit the game winner, but when his deep three came up short (or was it a pass???), Colby Eaton was there to clean up the miss and score the putback at the buzzer.

Ryan McLaughlin was there.

Caden Frazier (seen in the clip below) was one of 4 Spruce Mountain players in double figures as the Phoenix pulled away from Mount Abram late in a 1 vs 1 Tourney Preview. It's like one of those cross-class scrimmages coaches schedule for prelim week, only it counts.

Jimmy James was there.

The Leavitt and Medomak girls finished the game from Tuesday they were unable to complete because of a power outage. Play resumed with 4:01 left in the 4th quarter and the Hornets up 21. There was no rally, so Medomak drove 2 hours and 58 minutes round-trip to play 4 minutes and 1 second of basketball.

The win punches Leavitt's ticket to the post-season and Medomak will need a win against Gardiner in a...I guess it's not really a back-to-back-to-back or even a back-to-back? It's just weird.

According a Facebook comment I saw and didn't bother to verify, Leavitt AD Ryan LaRoche dug out a storage shed during Tuesday's portion of the game in order to have a clock after the scoreboard went out. There's always something new.

Gabby Smith led the Hornets with 16 & 11.

Add Wells' Megyn Mertens to the 1K club. She needed 28, got it in the first half(!), and finished with 34.

Elsewhere

Monmouth's Kaitlyn Frost scored her 1,000th point against Telstar. She finished with 28...Harliegh Allen went off for 27 as Central Aroostook tied a school record with a 17-1 season...Gage Mattson had 21 and Jack Fontaine kicked in 18 in Maranacook's win over Winthrop. The Ramblers got 23 from Graham Huri...Jack Kern scored 15 and Traip closed on an 18-5 run to put away OOB...Reece MacDonald had 25. Robbie Hanscom added 23 and York rolled over Cape...The Poland girls beat Freeport in overtime behind Charlotte Grenier’s 12. Abby Giroux had 17 for Freeport...Addison Valente's 26 wasn't enough for Fryeburg against Yarmouth, who was led by Rory Tompkins' 16...Jake Jamo scored 18 and Poland finished out their regular season with a 31-point final quarter against Freeport...Isaiah Portis had 20 and GNG punched their ticket with a win over Greely...Kason Bua's 24 wasn't enough for Presque Isle to beat Caribou. The Vikings were led by 19 from Owen Corrigan...Freshman Tyler Day scored 22 in Monmouth's win over Oak Hill...Kevin Bolduc's 18 led Wells over Sacopee Valley...Ethan Walsh had 20 in Fort Fairfield's win over Central Aroostook.

I'll be on Maine Calling on Maine Public Radio tomorrow to talk about the upcoming tournament live at 11am. Apparently you can call in?

The BDN's Tourney Guide is out.

Tourney Time 2026

Tourney Time 2026 - https://issuu.com/bdnsections/docs/tourney_time_2025-26?fr=xKAE9_zMzMw

Bangor Daily News

You know, they really should stop the game and make him a banner.

Cooper made an appearance on Bill Simmons' annual Trade Value list. He was pretty high.

He's 19!

A programming note. After today's games, there's a pretty mad scramble to turn around everything fast enough for the tournament, especially with the S quarterfinals starting on Tuesday. The Gold Ball odds should be able to go live sometime Friday. The Media Guide will probably come out in chunks with S first.

Here's a reminder of what last year's Media Guide looked like:

That's the Oceanside boys. I make one of these for every team in the state and it's free for paid subscribers. So upgrade already, if you haven't already.

And then it's Tourney Time!

There's a lot of really good games on today's schedule, but the Game of the Day one has been circled on the calendar since early December.

Back on opening night, the Cheverus girls rallied to beat South Portland in a thriller in front of a packed crowd, 51-46. South Portland recovered nicely--the defending champs have won 15 in a row behind the top scoring defense in A South.

Cheverus has the top scoring offense in class A, but are coming off their first loss of the season on Tuesday to Biddeford.

This is pretty simple: winner gets the 1 seed. Also: Biddeford is playing Sanford in a game that would be the Game of the Day on any other day. Sanford can get to the 2 with a South Portland loss and Biddeford can get to the 3 with a win.

This is also a boys/girls doubleheader and the first matchup was also a thriller. In that one, Cheverus is still holding out hope of a bye and South Portland is hoping to get to the 2 seed.

If you want to go a little further north, Gardiner and Medomak can each move up a seed line with a win and some help. And if you're in the Bangor area, the Bangor and Hampden boys are teeing off in a rivalry matchup where Hampden could hop up to 6. Bangor is locked into the 4/5 game with Lewiston.

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