Since the Cross Insurance Center is the home of the University of Maine basketball teams, the court includes the college 3-point line, slightly deeper than the high school three. Over the first two days of the tournament, this led to some very long 3-point attempts by players from numerous teams quickly glancing at the court, seeing they’re behind a line, and firing away.
The high school 3-point line on the Cross Insurance Center court is white, while the college line is blue.
When asked if he made sure to remind his team which line to use before it took the court, Orono boys coach Jason Coleman went into the locker room, brought out senior guard Nate Desisto, and quizzed him. Desisto answered correctly.
“I can usually feel it when I shoot. I don’t have to look down. I’ve shot so many threes,” Desisto said.
Coleman said he and his coaching staff made sure to bring up the two 3-point lines in practices leading up to the Red Riots’ Class B North quarterfinal win over Presque Isle.
“As a (coaching) staff, last year we charted the percentages of the teams that hadn’t played here before. They’re all behind the blue line, everybody’s short,” Coleman said. “It makes a difference. When they see a 3-point line, they get behind it.”
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The Valley boys boarded a bus at 6 a.m. Saturday and made the nearly hour and a half trip to Augusta for a D South quarterfinal game against Vinalhaven, which, of course, also faced a formidable trip from the island to the Civic Center as well.
“We got here at 7:20, relaxed a little, walked around,” Valley coach Curtis Miller said. “We’re Class D so we are kind of used to playing early at some point. But we’re not usually the 8:30 game because we’re not usually the three seed. We’re usually the one or two. … We got up early and made the most of it.”
Added Valley senior captain Austin Cates, who scored 11 points in a 73-50 victory: “It’s a little bit early but we’re used to early games.”
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The matchup is set in the Class D South girls semifinals, as Temple will play Vinalhaven at 10 a.m., Thursday at the Augusta Civic Center.
The No. 3 Bereans (14-5) and No. 2 Vikings took different paths of getting to the semifinals.
Temple fought hard to grab a 42-40 victory over No. 6 Greenville in a quarterfinal Saturday. While the Bereans walked away with the win, head coach Michael Gorman said improvements can still be made before the next round. In particular, he added, ball-handling, as Temple had 18 turnovers against Greenville.
“(The team had) a lot of turnovers, a lot of turnovers we didn’t need to make,” Gorman said. “I think we rebounded better than I thought we would. But too many turnovers.”
Vinalhaven (15-4) cruised to a 71-37 win over No. 7 Highview Christian.
“(The team) has been playing together for a long time,” Vinalhaven head coach Sandy Nelson said. “The other strength is, they get along with each other, which is always nice.”
This will be the third time the Bereans and Vikings have faced each other this season. They played in back-to-back regular-season meetings back in December. Temple took the first game 56-39, and Vinalhaven exacted revenge the next day, winning 54-44.
Temple forward Kiara Carr — who scored a game-high 21 points against Greenville — credited Vinalhaven’s defense during the first two meetings.
“They fought hard against us and played really good defense, so it was hard to get the ball in the paint,” Carr said.
Nelson believes the rubber match will be a tough contest.
“Temple is a very good team,” Nelson said. “They’re well-coached, they have good shooters. They played great defense. I think it’s going to be a battle.”
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