MVP?

We had our first set of Regional Finals yesterday and apologies because I'm in a mood. You'll see.

First, let's go to the Expo for B South.

In the girls game, Abby Stackpole hit a three on the first play of the game. It was a sign. The Oceanside girls get hot from behind the line sometimes. It's kind of their thing. Part of what makes them so hard to beat is that all 5 of them are legitimate threats from deep and they can punish you if you try and double Olivia Breen. Yesterday they got white-hot from three. They went 12/19 from behind the arc for a ridiculous 63.2%. You're not going to lose many basketball games shooting 62% from three. Stackpole and Addie Poland combined to go 7/8. The 12 3's is a new B single game record and they broke the record for a team in a B regional in a convincing 68-51 win.

So, naturally, the MVP of the tournament went to GNG's Abbey Steele who poured in 33 points in the losing effort. Not to denigrate Steele, who I'm sure would much rather have won the game, but huh? You'll sometimes see a MVP coming from the losing team. You know how it goes. One person puts up huge numbers to drag their team to the last game and the winning team has a balanced box score. So let's look at the Efficiency leaders for the regional. EFF isn't a perfect stat, but it's a good all-in-one stat.
(PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − Missed FG − Missed FT − TO) / GP

That's most of the things you want to include.

Here's the B South girls leaders.

Poland was 9/15 from 3, which is how she's up there. Ripley put up big numbers in the first two games and really should have won it. I was workshopping a "how do you not give it to Ripley?" take in the second half and I'm just thrown by this choice. It killed my take. Renee Ripley was the best player in this tournament and I don't think it's that close. I suspect the voters aren't looking at advanced stats, but the eye test isn't that complicated. The advanced stats are not close. And here I am back at "how do you not give it to Ripley?"

Oceanside will play Lawrence in the State Game, a team they split with during the regular season. Maddie Provost scored 9 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs were able to pull away from Gardiner. Lawrence held Gardiner to an effective FG% of 26%. Contrast that with their own 62% and that's how you win a playoff game. Before you ask, Oceanside's eFG% was 64%. Ashley Shores led all scorers with 29 points on 12 shot attempts.

We'll keep a theme going. Here's the EFF leaders for B North.

Let's go back to the Expo and the boys B South final between Yarmouth and Medomak Valley. Yarmouth shot 63% in the first half thanks to stellar play from Ian Lawrence and Adam Maxwell and were able to hold Medomak to 2/12 from three. Yarmouth pushed an 8-point lead at the half to 12 at the end of three. Then Mason Nguyen opened the 4th quarter with a three and because no one can hold a lead in the Expo, Medomak cut it to 5. Yarmouth got it back out to 12 before Medomak made a push and cut it to 2 on a Carter Jackson bucket. Yarmouth went 7/10 from the line down the stretch and had a 6 point lead with 11 seconds left.

Nguyen raced down the floor and drilled a three from about 4 feet behind the NBA line and Medomak called time with 5 seconds left, down 3.

Couple things here. If you don't already know, I've been a Medomak guy my entire life. I rode my bike every day to summer ball and we'd all sit around the court at the end of the day and watch Josh Nash play 1-on-1 against whoever. I think most people reading this already know that. So for that reason, I hate the call. Obviously. But if you've been reading this newsletter since at least yesterday, you know that I absolutely abhor calls that decide games in situations like this. It is my biggest pet peeve other than dunk technicals. There is no surer way to get written up in this newsletter. You could not come up with a better application to be a Peter Webb All-Star if you tried.

I'll slow it down for you.

Is there a foul there? Sure. I think you can make a case that they're both engaging. You want to call this in the third quarter, go for it. But with 5 seconds left there's no coming back from that. Game over. I've asked a number of neutral parties and the consensus is that it's a ticky tack call. But it's a ticky tack call that ended someone's season. I hated it yesterday when it ended Sanford's season. I would have hated the call had it ended Yarmouth's season. I hated it last year in a Regional Final. And I'll hate the next one, hopefully not today. It might be the worst call at the Expo and that's saying something, because the officiating at the Expo has been pretty bad.

Time and score.

All that is to say that Yarmouth had a great tournament and 100% deserved to win. Ian Lawrence and Adam Maxwell had 18 each and they shot 67% from the floor as a team. 67%! Mason Nguyen had 30 for Medomak. Kollin Donlin had 10/8/4/3s.

Michael Hoffer was there (and is not mad about it like I am).

Yarmouth boys down Medomak Valley, advance to state final

PORTLAND—Connor Hasson has felt all along that his Yarmouth boys’ basketball team’s ceiling was a state championship. And the Clippers are now one away from proving their first-year coach right. Friday afternoon at the Portland Exposition Building, fourth-ranked Yarmouth completed its stirring run through the Class B South field

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Looking at the B South leaders.

So obviously the same people who gave Steele the MVP, selected Nguyen? Nope. Ian Lawrence, as they should. I dunno.

The two things I heard over and over again at the Expo yesterday were "are your guys gonna get it done?" (Nope) and "Gardiner by 8 over Cony? Really?"

I was courtside for Gardiner's 97-90 win over Cony at the ACC, so I knew they could beat Cony, but they also split the season series, so there's that.

Brady Atwater had 19 points in the first half on 7/8 shooting and Carter Braithwaite had 22 as Gardiner led 47-35 at the break. Cony made some pushes in the second half (and Atwater cooled off a bit), but they were unable to get it under 7 and Gardiner beat their bitter rivals by 9. So Gardiner by 8? Yup.

Carter Braithwaite ended up with 32/7/6. Not back for a freshman in a Regional Final. Parker Morin added 16/7. Brady Atwater led Gardiner with 27 on an 88% eFG% and had 6 boards and 4 assists. Brayden Elliott dished out 10 assists.

Here's your B North leaders

I'm not sure who won the MVPs in Bangor, but I'm guessing Atwater?

Mike Mandell, who told me in July that Gardiner was going to have a big year, was there.

Gardiner boys basketball tops rival Cony to win Class B North

The Tigers earn just their second regional crown ever and advance to next Friday’s state final against Yarmouth.

The Portland Press HeraldMike MandellStaff Writer

Over in Augusta, Mt. Ararat was arguably the biggest favorite of the day. After all, the defending champs were deep and very good and had just beaten Hampden by 17 at the end of the regular season. So when the Eagles opened up with an 8-0 lead, it had to feel like it might be a wrap. Hampden didn't think so. Aubrey Shaw scored 5 points in a 7-0 Broncos run to get back in it.

In the second half, the Hampden defense took over. They held the potent Mt. Ararat offense (9th in the state) to 15% from the floor and 0/5 from three. The only Mt. Ararat player to score from the floor in the half was Julianna Allen and she needed 22 shots to score 15 points in the game. Most of that was because of Grace LaBree, who only scored 1 point, but had 11 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. The Eagles' low scoring mark on the season was 47. Hampden held them to 26 in a huge upset.

Cooper Sullivan was there.

Hampden Academy girls basketball gets revenge over Mt. Ararat in A North final

The second-seeded Broncos win a rematch of last year’s state championship game, holding the top-seeded Eagles to a season-low point total.

The Portland Press HeraldCooper SullivanStaff Writer

Aubrey Shaw was the tourney MVP.

A lot of people had penciled Camden in as regional champs at the beginning of the tournament, but as I wrote in the Game of the Day preview, Brunswick had a much better chance than people thought. And for a while, they hung with the Windjammers. Neither team led by more than 3 until Camden went on an 8-0 run near the end of the first half. But there's an asterisk.

From what I've heard, the technical was legit. Still, you hate to see it.

Brunswick couldn't put a dent in Camden's lead in the second half and the lead got as high as 19. Nolan Ames scored 21 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, handed out 11 dimes, and swiped 4 steals. Owen McGrath led Brunswick with 19 & 8. Ames was the tournament MVP.

The Madawaska emergence has been one of the fun stories of the last 2 seasons. You know all about Quinn Pelletier, but it's not just him.

Machias is led by 1,000 point scorer Mickey Fitzsimmons, who has struggled shooting in this tourney.

He had 5 in the quarterfinals, when they didn't really need him,

Machias is 6th in scoring offense and leads the state in scoring differential, even higher than Valley (+540).

Both teams have a top 10 scoring defense. Both can score in bunches. This could be in the 70s. It could be in the 30s.

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