The Double Life of Technicals
In which I stretch for a nerdy film joke in a day full of blowouts
While Monday's action had a couple of mild upsets, there were only a couple of games that finished with a single-digit deficit and only 1 of the 20 finished as a 2-possession game. So let's go there.
The Lake Region boys swept Poland during the regular season, winning by 11 and 12 points, so they had to feel confident going into their quarterfinal matchup. But Poland had won 7 of their final 8 and the Model had them ranked ever-so-slightly higher than the Lakers during the second half of the year.
It's worth noting that this game had 2 of the 3 officials from Saturday's Windham/Scarborough game--the previous game played at the Expo. That did not escape anyone's attention.
Lake Region started out well and Shawn West kept Poland around with a couple of threes from the corner. The game was kind of messy, with both teams kicking the ball around a little bit. There were 24 combined turnovers in the first half.
Then, midway through the second, Poland picked up a flop technical.
It didn't look like a flop from my angle. On the broadcast it looks a little worse. It was, of course, discussed by everyone at halftime and there wasn't a clear consensus, which I think you need for a flop technical in a playoff game, you know? These things should be clearly a violation and if not, let's all move on with our lives.
Lake led 28-24 at the half.
In the third quarter, Poland came alive. Jacob Jamo fueled a 11-2 run that gave Poland the lead. Cooper Smith scored to re-take the lead for Lake and then Poland's assistant coach got a technical for some real-time feedback that looked really soft.
The last time Poland got calls this bad Kieslowski was snubbed from Best Foreign Language FIlm
— Maine Basketball Rankings (@MEBBallRankings) February 16, 2026
[context]
Poland took a lead into the 4th quarter and that's when Damon Martin took over. He scored 10 points in the final 8 minutes and didn't miss a shot in the process. Poland shot 73% from the floor as a team down the stretch and led by as many as 14 before Lake Region's went on a 14-5 run to make it interesting.
The officials who couldn't call fouls on the correct player in Windham/Scarborough are attempting to call a foul on someone who isn't on Poland's roster
— Maine Basketball Rankings (@MEBBallRankings) February 16, 2026
It was one of those games. The official called a foul on 30. Poland doesn't have a 30 on the roster. The table asked for clarification and the official confirmed that, yes, the foul is on #30. Then they had to bring him back over. It was a whole thing. After Saturday, it wasn't reassuring.
Poland advanced behind 19 from Martin and 15 from Jacob Jamo. The Knights shot 42.9% from deep.
They'll face Medomak Valley in the semis after Mason Nguyen (27 points on 70.6% shooting) and Kollin Donlin (21/5r/2b) made short work of a Lincoln Academy team that graduated their entire starting lineup 2 years in a row and still found their way to the Expo.
Medomak Valley and @PRKnightNation boys advance in Southern B boys pic.twitter.com/KKQOuEPOfk
— Joe Bailey (@joebaileysports) February 17, 2026
The Mattanawcook boys got hot from deep last night, led by Andrew Oliver, who went 7/11 from three en route to 27 points.
Matt Junker
And Mary Allen was on fire for Bangor Christian.
Larry Mahoney
The games weren't close in Bangor, but the performances were pretty undeniable.
Elsewhere
Aden Jeffers went off for 37 & 9 in Fort Kent's win over Sumner...Penobscot Valley ripped off a 39-0 run against Southern Aroostook. Rylee Moulton led the way with 21...Henry Mirick's 21 led York past a pesky GNG team, but York lost center with a knee injury late. Hopefully he can return for the semifinals against Yarmouth...Speaking of the Clippers, Evan Oranellas scored 14 and they overcame 23 from Colin Schlobohm and a furious Leavitt rally. The Hornets shot 14% from deep in the first 3 quarters, then proceeded to hit 4 of 5 to make a run...The 6th seeded Madison girls had a 16-4 run to take the lead in the first half and held on to upset #3 Carrabec...Mt. View flipped on their Tourney Week switch and knocked off Sacopee Valley...Gage Mattson and Jack Fontaine each had 28 as Maranacook blew out Waynflete...the Mount Abram girls opened on a 15-0 run and never looked back to put away NYA...Chloee Bennett's 18 led Buckfield over Boothbay...Dylan Jewett scored 30 points on 19 shots as Spruce rolled...Tayshaun Cleveland's 12 & 18 led Hall-Dale over Dirigo...Kassidy Lebel's 17 & 13 helped Foxcroft beat Calais...Machias got 17 from Liam O'Connor to beat Central Aroostook...Cyran Ciarleglio had 23 & 12 as Central Aroostook upset Bangor Christian.
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We can now look at the B South boys quarterfinals leaders.
Boys C South
Boys D North
Girls D North
You get the idea.
And don't forget to check out the live stats. People like them!
Lucas McNelly
A South girls kicks off today and while the region looks like it'll be one of the best of the tournament, that probably won't kick in until the semifinals. What could be interesting is Windham and Biddeford in the 4/5 game. Biddeford did win their matchup earlier in the year by a bunch, Windham did manage to go 12-6 with a scoring differential of +182.
I think the Model's a little off here (then again, I'm a huge fan of the Biddeford girls) and there might be more of a gap between the top 4 of A South and everyone else than the Model sees.
If you want to look elsewhere, the S South semifinal between Pine Tree and Forest Hills should be fun.
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.