Tayshaun Cleveland Comes Alive
The Senior turns a big second half into a Hall-Dale W
Most of the time, when trying to figure out where I want to go on a given night, I rely on the Stax Index. After all, it's proven to be reliable over the years. But there's a number of other factors I'm trying to include, like an opportunity to see a good team I don't normally get to see or a player of note or just what looks interesting and is within driving distance. But last night, I consulted the Jarrod Richmond Index when he suggested the Hall-Dale/Spruce Mountain game would be a closer than the Model's pick of Spruce by 18.
So I got on 27 and drove to Hall-Dale, a gym I'd not yet visited. I'm also trying to hit some new gyms this year. 2 so far in 8 games!
@mainebasketballrankings1 ♬ original sound - Maine Basketball Rankings
It's kind of what I would imagine if you told me to draw a Class C gym. There's the stage on one side and a standing room only space up above the bleachers. It's a great atmosphere, especially for a rivalry game.
As for the game, the first development was the absence of Cai Dougher, who is unavailable until December 22nd for undisclosed reasons. That's a large loss for a team that's pretty banged up from a run to the State Championship game in football. (Hell, I'm still recovering from standing on the sideline).
The first half was a low-scoring affair, with Spruce leading 22-21 at the half.
In the second half, Spruce built a 6-point lead before Hall-Dale's Tayshaun Cleveland scored 7 straight for Hall-Dale to get the Bulldogs back in the game.
I think they gave Tayshaun Cleveland a Red Bull at halftime
— Maine Basketball Rankings (@MEBBallRankings) December 12, 2025
He had a monster second half, finishing with 22 points and this small bit of coaching on the game winner, exhorting his teammate to "shoot it!"
That's Greyson Cary with game winner. Hall-Dale won their season opener 51-48. Dylan Jewett led Spruce with 19 & 6.
After the game, I talked to Cleveland.
And, yes, Hall-Dale had the Model's prediction up on the bulletin board in their locker room. I love it when I hear stuff like that.
Mike Mandell was there.
Mike MandellStaff Writer
At Mount View, with mere seconds left, Maranacook's Gage Mattson stole an inbounds pass and then found Luke Tinckham for the game-winner.
Maranacook is now 3-0 on the year. Mattson led the way with 23.
If you've got buzzer-beaters, game winners, parents getting ejected, or anything else, send it my way and I'll share it.
You might remember that Leavitt went to a state title game in football, as is their custom, so it's safe to assume they'd want to ease their way into the season as they get back into basketball shape.
Instead they've gone to overtime in their first three games.
Last night, Brody Poland and Darren Flagg hit 4 straight threes to force OT. Flagg led the way with 21.
The latest episode of the podcast is out and Jon Duke joined me to talk about a bunch of stuff. The plan was to talk about the frisky Celtics, but we did an hour on high school basketball before that, from the role of boosters, to Jon's mistrust of freshmen AAU hype, to teams that have impressed us in the early days of the season, and more.
Plus, Jon appointed himself the Ombudsman of the podcast, which is fair.
This is a really fun conversation and while it gets in the weeds a bit, it gets in the weeds in the sort of way you'd want it to if you're the sort of person who reads this newsletter every day.
Plus I confront Jon with his previous statement about this year's Freshman class.
Elsewhere
Nolan Ames dropped 29 & 7 on Skowhegan...Evan Monk's 7 3's fueled a 40-point outburst against Machias...Jaxson Desjardins went off for 45 in Forest Hills' overtime win over Islesboro...Cooper Smith had 18 in Lake Region's win over Poland...GSA's Malcolm Page dropped 31 on 'Guag...Ella Kennedy had 20 as GNG rolled over Leavitt...Maddie Provost went for 26 in Lawrence's win over Messo...Carter Braithwaite had 19 and Jackson Kay added 18 to lead Cony by Oceanside...Lisbon's Owen Hurd dropped 26 on Waterville...Celia Bergdahl had 28 & 8 in Maranacook's come-from-behind win over Mt. View...Freshmen Grace Lough (22) and Scarlett Mooney (18) led Oak Hill to an easy win over Mountain Valley...Charlotte Cyr had 15 and Sacopee Valley went on a 15-0 run to cruise by Telstar...Winthrop erased a 14-point deficit behind a strong second half from Kylee Mansir to beat OOB...Trot Moody's 24 wasn't enough to overcome a balanced Winthrop attack...Silas Nielsen's 24 & 14 helped Sacopee Valley recover in Overtime after giving away a 16 point lead to Telstar...Levi Laverdiere had 25 as Monmouth rolled over Mt. Abram...Collin Verrill had 26 and Pine Tree exploded for 92 against Temple...Hodgdon held East Grand to 8 points...Jacob Linkletter's 28 led Madison to a win over Winslow.
The annual East/West Conference Play Day at the ACC is this weekend. It's a nice event where a number of small schools get to play some neutral site games on a tourney floor--and cut down on a little bit of travel.
0
Tickets are $10 for adults.
The Stax Index has Falmouth @ Noble as the Game of the Day because they've only played 2 games each and the Model is just starting to realize how much talent has graduated. So we'll skip that one, because they're about to tumble down the rankings.
Instead we'll go to Farmington, where Mount Blue is off to a 2-0 start. They'll host an Edward Little team that's 0-2, but with losses to #2 Camden Hills and #3 York, it's impossible to fault them for their record. In fact, so far they've played the 7th hardest schedule in the state (and, yes, I need to fix what class and region everyone is in for this graphic.), but there's a caveat. You could argue they've played the hardest schedule (#2 & #3. Yikes.), but it's not an average and playing 3 games is harder than playing 2, so they're behind a couple of teams that have played 3 games. It's not important.
Anyway, Edward Little is really good. They nearly beat Camden. They hung tough with Windham in the preseason. They could absolutely get in the win column against Mount Blue, but it'll be a dogfight.
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.