Stakes are high in preliminary-round matchups

Twelve boys basketball games are scheduled around northern Maine on Wednesday evening. They’re postseason games in the sense that teams had to earn their way into the preliminary-round contests, but the level of anxiety may be even greater than any games to follow because without victory on Wednesday there is no opportunity to perform on […]

Defense, grit nets Lee season-opening upset of two-time defending state champs

When the Lee Academy and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill boys basketball teams met for the first time last season, GSA’s Taylor Schildroth ripped the nets for 61 points as the Eagles scored a 97-69 victory en route to their second straight Class C state championship. Their first meeting this season couldn’t have been […]

Greenville under the radar, but atop the standings

Perhaps no schoolboy basketball team statewide has thrived more out of the limelight this winter than the Greenville Lakers, who will enter the tournament ranked No. 1 in Class D South with a 17-1 record. Coach Bill Foley’s club has represented the Moosehead Lake region in South/West regionals for years, yet a switch from the […]

EL’s Titus epitomized the spirit of basketball

Josh Titus loved basketball, but no doubt he loved people even more. I know when it came time for me to cover the Maine McDonald’s senior all-star basketball banquet each year I never had to seek him out, like clockwork he’d greet me in a corner of the hall where photos were being taken and […]

Schenck’s King of the Day: A lesson in composure

Here are a few thoughts from the boys side of the North region high school basketball tournament as it enters the home stretch: — The best moment so far? Hard to argue against the buzzer-beating shots from Ellsworth teammates Bryce Harmon and Bruce St. Peter in the same game, but my vote goes to Chris King […]

McFarland, Mayo able modern ambassadors for Maine basketball

Two former Maine high school basketball stars, one starting his final season at the next level and the second just beginning his college career, have emerged as top ambassadors for the game as they learned it in the Pine Tree State. Tyler McFarland of Rockport, the state’s 2011 Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Maine Player of […]

TV, web streaming mix are the future of the state’s tourney broadcasts

The opportunity to participate in Maine Public Broadcasting Network Network’s televising of the state high school basketball tournaments during the late 1900’s and early 2000’s was indeed a personal pleasure. Whether serving as the roving reporter — or “Floor Boy’ as one pundit labeled the position, no doubt out of considerable jealousy — or a […]

Juggernauts, upstarts spice up football season

A few thoughts through two weeks of the high school football season: … Three teams already have established dominance within their respective divisions before the first day of autumn: Thornton Academy of Saco, Winslow and Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield. Thornton Academy, the defending Class A state champion, has outscored Sanford and Cheverus of Portland […]

Letter of the rules vs. spirit of the game

More than one coach at this year’s Senior League World Series expressed disappointment with the tournament’s change in format. Rather than utilizing the pool-play approach featured during the event’s first 13 years in Bangor, Little League opted for a modified double-elimination format, in part to bring the SLWS into conformity with other Little League championship […]

SLWS thrives amid fine-tuning, new features

The Senior League World Series has carved out a substantial niche on the summer sports schedule in Eastern Maine. And if Little League officials have anything to say about it, little will change in the foreseeable future. “We’re very satisfied,” said Steve Keener, Little League’s president and chief executive officer, during a visit to Bangor’s […]