Gold Ball Saturday

Oh boy.

There's going to be a lot of video in this one, because it's a big day and you should hear from the winners. Also, I'm tired.

First, on Saturday morning Jay Baines and I carpooled from Bangor to Augusta after the B games Friday night. And if we were going to be in the car for an hour, well why not make a podcast out of it?

We even fit in a Vertical Raise logo.

Augusta was full of energy when we got there, even for the S games. The Valley crowd was out in force for a potential sweep and the Wisdom crowd made the nearly 5 hour trip. Apparently the team left at something like 4:30 in the morning?

And they brought an awesome band. It's your standard pep band, but with a dude who's rocking an electric guitar with a leather jacket and is way cooler than you or I could ever be.

As for Wisdom, they were up against it. The Valley girls were the biggest pre-tournament favorite of them all and absolutely dominated the south regional. They'd be a contender in D. They scrimmaged an A school. They raced out to a 21-7 lead, but they didn't run away with it. Wisdom stayed with them and if you just promoted the Valley girls to D, Wisdom is probably holding a Gold Ball right now. But they're in S. Ava Lerman led all scorers with 20. Delia Hill led Valley with 13 points. Liana Hartwell had 10/5/6. And Valley won their second straight title, 48-30.

The Easton boys did not fare as well, even though they had a bear on their team.

Valley scored 24 points in the first quarter and the Cavaliers ran away with it, as is their custom. Mason Pelletier tried to keep Easton in it. He had 26 points and 15 rebounds, but it takes more than that to take down Valley. Harry Louis had 27 points and 6 steals. Fisher Tewksbury had 17 & 14.

After the game, I spoke to Harry Louis.

In D Girls, Penobscot Valley came into the game as the defending champions and one of the toughest 4 seeds you'll see. They had 5 losses on the season--3 to Bangor Christian, who they upset in the semifinals, and undefeated Mattanawcook. They are not your standard 4 seed.

56 seconds into the game they picked up a technical.

So by rule this is a technical foul, because the ball is dead from when it goes through the hoop until it's taken out of bounds. In this small window, the Penobscot Valley player turns to go up court and finds an opponent in her way. There's marginal contact, but nothing you haven't done yourself a thousand times on a basketball court. That's not a foul in a pickup game. That's not a foul at any level of basketball. It's an "Excuse me" and play on. But, if you call that a foul (it isn't), the ball is dead so you have to make it a dead ball foul and that's a technical. 56 seconds into a Gold Ball game. You can't make this stuff up.

It was a 1 point game at halftime. In the third quarter, the Howlers used a 10-2 run to break it open and that's when I left for Portland.

If you're going to stall (and I get it, Gold Ball on the line), I appreciate waiting until I leave. Penobscot Valley held on and the Howlers became the second team on the day to go back-to-back.

Jenna Osgood's 13 & 13 paced Mt. Abram. Lila Cummings scored 15 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and added 4 steals and 3 blocked shots to lead Penobscot Valley.

In the D Boys game, Monmouth opened up an 18-point lead in the third quarter behind hot shooting from Levi Laverdiere, who scored his 1,000th point point in the third quarter (he was 7/14 from deep en route to 33 points), but when standout big Jacob Harmon the Mustangs had to go small to hold off Machias. The Bulldogs got it all the way down to 2 on a Liam O'Connor free throw, but couldn't quite get over the hump. Monmouth hit 9 of 10 free throws in the final minutes to pull away for the win.

Mike Mandell was there.

Monmouth boys basketball fends off Machias to win Class D title

Levi Laverdiere scores 33 points as the Mustangs earn their second state championship in three years.

Centralmaine.comMike MandellStaff Writer

Down in Portland for the A games, Hampden was hyped pre-game.

And for all the talk of not being able to practice on the hockey rink floor, it didn't seem to bother Hampden's shooters. And by didn't seem to bother them, it might have given them super powers.

They hit their first 5(!) threes and shot 72% from the floor in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Cheverus' strategy of going right at Grace LaBree and getting her in foul trouble wasn't working. LaBree blocked 5 shots in the first half. Hampden kept cooking in the second quarter.

That's 79% on the unblocked shots, which is nuts. At the half, they had an eFG% of 91% and led by 17. At the half, I told Michael Hoffer that if I was that ridiculously hot, I'd want to lead by more than 17, because no one can maintain that level of shooting and Cheverus had already proven they can rally in the second half, even if Kylie Lamson was 2/10 from the floor and had 3 fouls.

With about 6 minutes left in the third quarter, Aubrey Shaw found Katelyn Adams for a bucket to stretch the lead to 19. Lamson hit Cheverus' first three of the game about 30 seconds later. They were 1/14 from deep in the first 3 quarters. Freshman Kristen King put together a 15-point third quarter and the Stag's defense had 7 steals in the third to get Cheverus on track. Lamson had 11 in the third quarter, but when she picked up her fourth foul with 2 minutes left in the third and LaBree hit both free throws to stretch the lead to 12, it didn't look great.

And then, in the fourth quarter, Hampden decided to stall. I am firmly on record as hating a stall. It's bad basketball and painful to watch and I like to think the Basketball Gods don't like it. And that's when you've got the ball handlers to do it. But when you've turned the ball over 18 times in the first three quarters because your opponent has 15 steals? Then stalling is a terrible idea. It's borderline insane. The whole point is you have to take care of the ball.

Sure enough, Cheverus added 9(!) steals in the fourth quarter. The combination of Cheverus' stifling defense and the Hampden stall meant the Broncos only took 3 shots in the fourth quarter, which seems like a bad idea when you're shooting 60%. And it's not like Cheverus got hot from the three or anything.

They just had 9 steals. You get that many steals you don't have to shoot well to rally. They shot 30% in the fourth quarter.

Let's go to the final seconds.

That's Kylie Lamson to send it to overtime.

Abby Kelly's free throw gave Cheverus their first lead of the game in overtime, then Kristin King hit Cheverus' 2nd three of the game to give them a 4-point lead. Shaw and LaBree scored to tie it up. Turns out when they stopped stalling they could score again. Weird. King scored again, then added two free throws after a Lamson steal. Shaw hit a three to cut it to 1, but Hampden couldn't get any closer and Cheverus pulled off the epic comeback.

Hampden shot 58% from the floor and 57% from three and held Cheverus to 34%/10%, but Cheverus' 27-1 advantage in steals made up the difference.

Kristin King finished with 24 in what has to be the game of her life. Addison Jordan had 7 steals to lead 6 different Stags who had at least 3 steals. Lamson added 21. LaBree had 15 points, 8 rebounds, and blocked 7 shots. Eve Wiles led the Broncos with 17.

Michael Hoffer had a writeup.

Cheverus digs out of 19-point hole, shocks Hampden Academy in OT to win state title

PORTLAND—Do you believe in miracles? Cheverus’ girls’ basketball team absolutely does. After winning a Gold Ball game like no other. Thanks to a comeback victory that all future wins will be measured against. Saturday evening, in the Class A state final, at the Cross Insurance Arena, the Stags were

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

As someone in the MPA said after the game, Hampden wins if there's a shot clock.

Back in Augusta in the Game of the Day, Mattanawcook opened up a 14-3 lead over Spruce after one quarter, thanks to a 9 & 7 quarter from Addison Cyr. Natasha McDonald got Spruce back in it with an 8-point second quarter to cut the lead to 4 at the half and her bucket off a Maddie Grimaldi assist got it down to 1 late in the third quarter. And then Addison Cyr took over. She had 8 points in the final quarter as the Lynx pulled away to win their first-ever Gold Ball. Cyr had a monster performance, scoring 25 points and hauling down 23 boards (11 offensive). McDonald led the Phoenix with 20.

The big question of the A boys game was who would win the battle between Nolan Ames and Portland's vaunted defense and it turns out the answer was...yes?

Portland came out hot. Cordell Jones hit a couple of threes early as the Bulldogs scored 19 points in the first quarter to open up a 7-point lead. And then Nolan Ames got going. He scored 10 straight Camden points (including several highlight reel plays) and Hollis Schwalm drained a three from the corner to give Camden a 4-point lead, but Portland answered and led at the half.

I'm always worried when a player with a reputation like Ames (or Aden Jeffers from Fort Kent) shows up in a Gold Ball game where a bunch of media folk haven't seen them before. Because if you have a B- game, which happens, but people have seen you have a great game before, the B- game is excused, but if that's all they've seen...you know. People are skeptical.

Nolan Ames did not have that problem on Saturday. He was awesome, dropping 30 & 8 on a tenacious Portland defense, but Portland just found a groove at exactly the right time and they pulled away in the second half for a 76-60 win. Lucas LeGage scored 19 to lead Portland. Cordell Jones had 18 & 4. Benilson Lumani had 12 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.

Michael Hoffer, again.

Portland boys surge past Camden Hills to win Gold Ball

PORTLAND—Take that, all of you doubters. The Portland Bulldogs are the Class A boys’ basketball state champions. Defying the odds by beating a series of talented opponents en route to the most unexpected and arguably delicious Gold Ball in the storied program’s history. Saturday evening at the Cross Insurance

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Speaking of Aden Jeffers, he went off for 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead Fort Kent to their first-ever Gold Ball. Fort Kent led 23-7 after 1 quarter. Maranacook worked their way back. Jack Fontaine's 3 with two minutes left cut the lead to 1, but Fort Kent answered with a 7-0 run to put it away.

Fontaine finished with 28. Gage Mattson added 21 and 11, but Fort Kent would not be denied.

The Fort Kent Warriors are a team of destiny. And now they’re state champions.

The Fort Kent boys basketball team traveled over four hours to Augusta and made school history by winning their first state title.

Bangor Daily NewsMatt Junker

Whew.

There's more to get to, but we're well over 2,000 words, so I'll leave you with the rosters for the KVAC All-Star game today at Cony. Girls at 5:30. Boys at 7.

I'll do a bit more of a wrap-up in a day or so.

Time for some sleep.