The Maddie Provost Revenge Tour

When the Oceanside girls hit 4 of their first 5 threes in the Class B State Championship game, the Lawrence bench had to be thinking they were in for a long night. After all, the Mariners had just shot 63% in the Regional Final against GNG and have a habit of getting hot from deep and staying hot from deep. But they had also started the game 1/6 from inside the arc and only led by 5 after 1. So Lawrence was in it, despite the hot start. Then Ashley Shores and Jaycie Elkins hit back-to-back threes and suddenly Lawrence had a lead. But Oceanside responded. They went 6/8 from 2 in the fourth quarter and maintained that 5-point lead at the half.

Lawrence opened the second half on an 12-0 to take command of the game. Ashley Shores played great defense on Olivia Breen and when Lawrence sent a double, they rotated fast enough to get back out on the shooters. Meanwhile, Maddie Provost was able to slow down Renee Ripley, holding her scoreless in the second half. She also did a fantastic job on the defensive glass, limiting Oceanside's second chance points with 12 defensive rebounds (she had 14 total) to go with 4 blocked shots, and Lawrence pulled away late to complete the Maddie Provost Revenge Tour with Lawrence's 7th Gold Ball.

Provost finished with 19/14/5a/4b. Ashley Shores added 19 points and 4 rebounds to complete her fantastic tournament run. Olivia Breen led Oceanside with 17 & 8.

In the boy's game, Gardiner was looking for their first Gold Ball and in their first trip to the big game since 2012 when their current coach Aaron Toman was on the floor instead of the bench.

The Gardiner rebuilding project has been years in the making since Toman took over a program that was in pretty rough shape. This summer, Mike Mandell mentioned them as a team to watch while we we hanging out at Cony League--although he didn't take them in the Wins Draft--and they made some waves with a 97-90 win over Cony at the ACC, but still I feel like they've been flying under the radar.

Not anymore.

Gardiner went on a 9-1 run spanning the first and second quarter to take a lead and then Isaac Marquis hit back-to-back threes to end the half and give the Gardiner Area Tigers an 11-point halftime lead.

As expected, Yarmouth didn't go away. They whittled away at the lead and cut it to 2 on a Matthew LeBlanc three.

Along the way we had a flop technical.

I didn't go back and grind the tape, but I'm rather sure Gardiner didn't attempt to take a charge after the flop technical. That's not the first time we've seen that in these playoffs. It makes sense. There's enough risk involved with a flop/charge call, but if you add a not-small chance of a technical in a close playoff game? It makes it hard to play defense.

Anyway...Gardiner responded, but Yarmouth battled back and cut it to 3 on an Evan Oranellas bucket with under a minute to go. They couldn't force a turnover and had to foul. Trace Moody calmly hit all 4 of his free throws in the final minute to put it away.

After the game, I talked to Trace Moody, who led the way with 20 points.

And to coach Aaron Toman about what it took to get his team to such great heights.

Congratulations to Gardiner on a well-deserved.

Obviously we have to hear from Mike Mandell.

Gardiner boys basketball beats Yarmouth to win 1st state title

The Tigers hold off a comeback bid by the Clippers in the Class B final.

The Portland Press HeraldMike MandellStaff Writer

So there's a rule in the MPA bulletin that each of the visiting teams in the state games (i.e. the team that didn't play their Regional Final on that floor) get the opportunity to practice on the floor before the game.

This has been a thing for as long as I can remember. Sometimes teams don't bother. I don't know if Caribou made the 301 mile trip each way just to practice. Maybe they got in some time on the floor the night before if they stayed in hotels.

Word came in earlier this week that Camden's opportunities to practice on the hockey rink's floor would be, uh, limited because the Cross had already pulled up the floor for last night's UMaine hockey game, which meant that Camden would only be able to practice on the floor with 15 3-point lines this morning. That's...not ideal.

I'm not sure why the Cross Arena felt like they had to pull up the floor so early in the week, but it's not like this is a new policy or a surprise addition to the schedule, so it's weird that this is even an issue.

So Camden got creative.

They aren't the first to do this.

But it shouldn't come to this.

There's a lot of great options today, as you'd expect from Gold Ball Saturday. Fort Kent attempts to go for their first ever Gold Ball against Maranacook. Valley goes for a sweep. Penobscot Valley attempts to go back-to-back, but as the 4 seed. Hampden tries to slow down Kylie Lamson and Cheverus. Monmouth's top-10 defense tries to shut down the high-flying Machias Bulldogs. And Portland tests their defense against Nolan Ames and Camden.

But the no doubt about it choice is the C Girls game between Spruce Mountain and Mattanawcook. The Phoenix and Lynx have lost a combined 1 game. They're first and second in class C in scoring, point differential, %Perfect (where the Lynx are #1 in the state at 93.7%), and they're top 3 in scoring defense. Simply put, they're two of the most dominant teams in the state.

This is so razor-thin, we have a recommendation.

I've been told they can't do this. I tried.

Jay and I have an idea cooked up for tomorrow that potentially involves being live on YouTube prior to the S State Games, so make sure you're subscribed to the YouTube channel.

But this should be awesome. Two great teams with great players and programs hungry for their first Gold Ball.

Someone's going home with one.

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