BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

Girls’ Class B South

Banks Exposition Building

Saturday, Feb. 18, noon

#4 Medomak Valley (12-6) vs. #5 Lake Region (13-5)

The Panthers of Medomak Valley (Waldoboro) went 4-1 in its last five contests, the only loss a 59-24 thumping by tourney top seed Oceanside. MV has won three straight.

The lone common opponent was Maranacook. Medomak played Maranacook twice, winning both match-ups, 54-46 and 56-35 (at home). The Lakers lost to the Black Bears in the second game of the season, on the road, 65-45.

The Lakers enter the tournament with a 3-2 record over their last five games, winners of two straight.

First-year Coach Doug Banks was asked by The News:

Q.What will be the keys to success?

DB. Run our offense through more than once and make the defense work. 

Q. What challenges do you face playing a team you didn’t face in the regular season and how are you preparing for them?

DB. When you play a team that you don’t see, you watch as much film that you can get and be willing to make changes on the fly. We need to play our game defensively. We work on this every day. We have kids that have over 40 blocks and we need to continue to rebounding on the defensive end and not give up second and third chances.

Q. What is the team’s approach/mindset heading into this game?

DB. We have not played since last Tuesday so the coaches and I have tried to have some fun. We had a great season (13-5). This week, we are getting back to normal practice. The kids are excited to be still playing. Our goal, to win this quarter, which we say it at every game. I’m very proud of these kids. They have given me everything they have. I ‘m sure it has not been easy, this being my first year. 

The Winner advances to play the winner of the Oceanside vs. Yarmouth/Oak Hill match-up.

Other Saturday Games

#3 Wells (16-2) vs. #6 Maranacook (10-8), 9 a.m.

#2 Spruce Mountain (17-1) vs. #7/#8 Leavitt (6-11) or York (7-11), 10:30 a.m.

#1 Oceanside (18-0) vs. #8/#9 Yarmouth (7-11) or Oak Hill (8-10), 1:30 p.m.

Ticket Info — $10 for adults, $5 for students

Boys’ Class A South

Banks Exposition Building

Saturday, Feb. 18, 4 p.m.

#3 Marshwood (13-5) vs. #6 Fryeburg Academy (9-9)

The Hawks of Marshwood closed out the regular season with a 4-1 mark, winners of three straight. The common opponents were York, Wells and Westbrook. Marshwood went 2-0 against York, winning 51-35 and 53-37. They beat Wells twice, 52-37 and 46-36, while splitting with Westbrook losing 49-42 and winning 43-41.

The Raiders, who went 1-4 over their last five games and entering the tournament with a four-game losing skid, lost to Westbrook 71-42, lost to Wells 54-51 and beat York 61-59.

Second-year FA Coach Dan Thomas was asked by The News:

Q.What will be the keys to success?

DT. Our two biggest keys to success will be valuing the basketball and protecting the 3-point line. Marshwood has some guys who can really light it up from ‘3’ and a really talented player in Andrew Perry. We need to try and contain him the best we can knowing that he is going to make tough shots. In some of our latest games, we have struggled with turnovers. In a game like this, we have to value every possession and make sure we are making smart, safe passes. 

Q. What challenges do you face playing a team you didn’t face in the regular season and how are you preparing for them?

DT. It’s no simple task playing a team for the first time in a win or go home fashion, but both teams have to do it. Our staff is watching film and trying to learn as much as we can about Marshwood. What’s helpful is that we have a full week of practice to work on what we need to work on. Hopefully, when the ball is thrown up, our guys have a good idea of what they're going up against. 

Q. What is the team’s approach/mindset heading into this game? We struggled down the stretch and lost 3 one possession games. We know we’re better than how we’ve been playing so this week of practice is really just what the doctor ordered. We need to correct some simple things that we can fix and get our mojo back to how we were playing a couple weeks ago. But, we have a team full of competitors who go into any game thinking we can come out on top. We know we’re the lower seed, but that takes the pressure off. No one outside of Fryeburg is probably picking us to win this game, but that gets us fired up. If we play the way we are capable of playing, we can hang with anybody. 

The Winner advances against the victor of #2 Gray-New Gloucester vs. #7 Kennebunk.

Other Saturday Games

#2 Gray-NG (15-3) vs. #7 Kennebunk (9-9), 5:30 p.m.

#4 Westbrook (13-5) vs. #5 Greely (10-8), 7:30 p.m.

#1 Falmouth (14-4) vs. #8 Mt. Ararat (9-9) 9 p.m.

Ticket Info — $10 for adults, $5 for students