Wildcatting

Pundits love to say that with a rivalry game you can throw out the records, because sometimes things like last night happen.

The Presque Isle boys, 6-4 on the year and fighting for a playoff spot, hosted the 9-1 Caribou boys (you know, the defending class B champs who are now in C). The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead, pushed it to 20 at one point, and beat the Champs rather convincingly 56-42. Kason Bua had a game high 21 points.

You can watch the highlights on WHOU's Facebook page.

While 6-4 beating 9-1 doesn't sound that outlandish, let me add the context that Caribou entered the game ranked 7th in the state and Presque Isle was 86th. Caribou was favored by 20 points.

If we start with Christmas (to filter out teams like Noble that are clearly worse than last year), boys teams favored by 19 points or more are 32-2 on the year. Both of those loses were by Caribou.

Presque Isle was roughly 55% to make the Tournament before the win, slotting in for that 9th and final spot, but their most likely option was finishing 10th.

But with the win over Caribou (which is obviously going to be the gift that keeps on giving all season long), Presque Isle's prospects improve significantly.

They flip with Lawrence for 8th, which is now their most likely landing spot. 10th place is all the way down to 5.6% and they're 94.3% to make the Tourney. So while it doesn't look like the win moved the needle all that much, it essentially doubled their chances of making the postseason. They were pretty far from Belfast at 7, but they've closed the gap significantly.

Elsewhere

Fisher Tewksbury's 17 led Valley to a blowout over Greenville...Dylan Jewett scored 19 points and Spruce Mountain used a 22-2 run to put away Winthrop...David Edwards' 22 & 11 led Richmond over Telstar...Brennan Mitchell's 26 out-dueled Dylan Theraiult's 24 and Mount Abram beat Mountain Valley...Jack Fontaine's 19 led Maranacook past Lisbon...OOB put up a 27-0 second quarter and Reagan Patridge scored 17 points in a win over Wiscasset...Kirsten Bigelow went off for 30 in 3 quarters in Valley's win over Greenville...Nick Jamo scored 20 and Jake Jamo chipped in 19 as Poland beat Freeport...Caleb Dupee drilled 6 shots from deep in OOB's win over Wiscasset...Monmouth overcame 27 points from Owen Smith to beat Dirigo...Lilly Burtt had 23 in Central Aroostook's win over Madawaska...Quinn Pelletier had 20 in the boys game...Hermon's Carter Wiggin dropped 26 on Foxcroft.

The story of the Brunswick two dunk technicals has legs. First Varsity Maine covered it and now the Bangor Daily News has their own angle: they took the opportunity of Brewer hosting Camden Hills to talk to two of the best dunkers in the state--Oli Higgins and Nolan Ames.

[Higgins] didn’t mince words about the idea of players being issued a technical for hanging a little bit after a dunk.

“I think it’s kind of crap. I think you should be able to celebrate your dunks,” Higgins said. “Dunks give a lot of energy to the team.”

Ames agreed that it’s hard to know where other players are in traffic or transition when taking the ball to the rim.

“You’ve seen those NBA players, they get a two-foot dunk, and they swing right off the rim and fall on their back. Nobody wants to see that happen,” Ames said. “So I think hanging on the rim’s not really that bad.”

They also spoke to TJ Halliday the state's officials coordinator (who is probably tired of talking about this). Reading between the lines of the article, it sure sounds like there's movement toward getting rid of the dunk technicals, but as they always say, progress is rarely a straight line.

“As a fan of the game, I like dunking. I like to see it. I like that kind of action. It’s kind of fun to get people excited about the game,” Halliday said. “So we definitely don’t wanna get involved unless we feel like it’s necessary.”

Matt Junker has the story for the BDN:

2 of Maine’s best dunkers weigh in on debate over technical fouls at the rim

Camden Hills senior Nolan Ames and Brewer Sophomore Oli Higgins are well-qualified to speak about dunk rules.

Bangor Daily NewsMatt Junker

I would also like to go in a time machine and tell 12 year old me that I'd someday report something that'd result in columns by the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News.

Just putting this out there for all the student sections around the state.

We've got more information on Spencer Emerson's decision to step down from the Falmouth football gig. He's moving on to college in an off field role, which doesn't seem to be announced publicly yet.

Spencer Emerson steps down as Falmouth football coach​

Emerson will take an off-the-field position with a college football program after leading the Navigators to a 17-4 record and a Class B title in two seasons.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

Naturally, the Falmouth job is open and that's got to be a very attractive opportunity for a young coach.

Last week, Mason Nguyen scored 23 points in the 4th quarter to nearly lead Medomak Valley to a come-from-behind victory against Cony in Augusta. The Rams prevailed 95-89. Tonight is the rematch and when two teams score a combined 184 points, the rematch moves to the top of the heap. The Stax Index agrees.

Cony enters the game as the top scoring team in the state at 79.6 points a game. They've scored more than 88 points 5 times in 10 games. They also give up a bunch of points, easily the most for a team with a winning record. The team next to them in PA is Noble, who is -292 on the year. Some of that is related to pace.

They'll travel to Waldoboro to take on Medomak Valley. Last year, Medomak lived on their defense, but Gabe Lash isn't there anymore and the Panthers aren't an elite defense this year, at least not by the numbers. They've shown they can score points with Cony. Can they slow them down enough to pull out a win?

I will add that these two teams should be higher in the rankings, but they're a game or two behind everyone else.

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