A few observation following Richmond's Class D state championship appearance Saturday.

They don't really keep records for this sort of thing, but it's safe to say that Forest Hills guard Evan Worster will be one of the youngest players in the history of the Maine high school basketball tournament when he takes the Augusta Civic Center court on Saturday.

An eighth grader, Worster will be 13 years, four months and eight days old when the top-seeded Tigers play No. 8 Buckfield in the Western Class D quarterfinals on Saturday at 1 p.m., Forest Hills coach Anthony Amero said.

Like many teams, Mt. Desert Island has taken its licks on the football field against Winslow over the past several years. The Trojans got a little payback Wednesday night in the Eastern B boys basketball prelims.

The Averill boys basketball team is going back to the Western Class D quarterfinals for the first time since the 2000 season. The 9-8 Beavers are the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 Vinalhaven Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

This season, Averill matched its win total from the last five seasons combined. To give his team a taste of what it can expect at the Augusta Civic Center, head coach Gary Dugal plans on dusting off some memories.

"I have some tapes from when we went to the regional final against Hyde (in 1997)," Dugal said.

Erskine Academy senior Garrett Holt made no excuses for the behavior that caused him to sit out Thursday night's first quarter against Gardiner.

Weight training has become a necessary and sometimes mandatory component of high school football. Teams that lift are stronger and the strong thrive. The same is also true in basketball.

Given the history of great teams and great players at Winthrop and Hall-Dale high schools, you might think there would be more classics in the vault like Winthrop's 85-78 double overtime win over the Bulldogs on Thursday night.

There are good point guards and then there are caretakers of the ball. Good point guards, like Hall-Dale's Tyler Cummings, make teams go.

You could almost see Edward Little's Corey Therriault salivating when Cony's Ray Cotnoir entered the game Friday night and began to guard him.

Hackles get raised every time I've mentioned high school bands and their participation in athletic events, but here goes again.

Following Thursday's 46-41 loss to Lawrence, Skowhegan boys basketball coach Troy Scott confirmed that junior forward Paul Verville won't play this season.

Verville, one of the Indians' top offensive players last season, suffered a neck injury during the football season. Scott said that since Christmas, Verville has asked about playing, but the coach remained firm in his desire to let Verville fully heal and avoid the risk of greater injury.

"It wouldn't be any good to him," Scott said. "His health is more important than winning a basketball game."

After watching two-time defending Eastern Maine champ Bangor stumble to a 1-3 start, the thought around the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference was maybe the Rams were due for a down year.

After Tuesday's 44-37 win at Mt. Blue, it's safe to say the league is in for no such luck.

The win improved Bangor's record to 5-4, and coach Roger Reed thinks the slow start was just a matter of a young team gaining experience.

"I thought we had big upside, because we're so young," Reed said. "We have 11 new kids not used to our system."

Basketball fans have seen it dozens of times. A player receives a call he doesn't like, and instead of handing the ball to the official, he places it on the floor and walks away.

The Gardiner boys basketball got off to a poor start this season, losing its opener handily to Rockland. Worse yet, the Tigers were assessed three technical fouls, coming across as sore losers.

New York Knicks guard Cuttino Mobley, who played his prep basketball at Maine Central Institute, retired on Thursday. Mobley said his doctors told him his heart disease has gotten worse.

Mobley has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The condition causes the heart muscle to thicken, making it harder to pump blood. Doctors told the 33-year old Mobley that if he continued to play, his health was at serious risk.

Mobley left MCI for the University of Rhode Island in 1993.He played for five teams in his 11-year NBA career: Houston, Orlando, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and New York.

Mobley's best season was 2001-02, when he averaged 21.7 points per game for the Rockets. Mobley averaged 16 points per game for his career.

What should have been a better game between the Rockland and Gardiner boys basketball teams turned into a foul-fest Friday night in the season opener for both schools.

Nobody knows the pressure Wade Morrill feels more than Morrill himself.

Just 27, Morrill will coach the Valley High School boy's basketball team next season. Morrill takes over for Dwight Littlefield, one of the winningest coaches in Maine high school basketball history. Littlefield won 471 games and six state championships in 31 years at Valley.

Morrill, a 1999 Valley graduate, played on the first two of Valley's six consecutive state championship teams. He coached the Cavaliers junior varsity team last season, and teaches in the school now.

This year, for the first time, two players were named Kennebec Journal Boys Basketball Co-Players of the Year. It was not a decision made lightly.

It was a strong season for central Maine boys high school basketball. Were it not for a buzzer beater, teams in the Kennebec Journal circulation area would have taken three of four state championships.

Height is an advantage in the game of basketball but no more important than quickness. This is true at every level, especially in high school, where big men are usually in the developmental stage.

I'll miss watching Maranacook's Ryan Martin, Mike Poulin and Will Bardaglio. They played their last game together Friday night when they beat Cape Elizabeth for their second Class B state championship in three years.

Here are three things to keep in mind as Valley and Richmond meet for the Western Class D boys basketball title this afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center:

1. Can the post players from either team stay out of foul trouble? If either Richmond's Marc Zaharchuk or Valley's Trevor Miller picks up two quick fouls, it could change the game. Richmond has a little more depth, and could withstand a prolonged Zaharchuk withdrawl better than the Cavaliers could make out without Miller for an extended time, but both are vital to their team's success.

Maranacook holds on to defeat Rockland, 59-57. Rockland missed a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds and Maranacook's Conrad Gilman made two foul shots with 6.8 seconds left to ice the game. Ryan Martin led Maranacook with 25 points and Teel Ilvonen had 20, including 6-for-6 on 3-pointers, for Rockland.

The Eastern B boys quarterfinal between No. 1 Maranacook and No. 8 Rockland is under way. The winner will play No. 5 Matttanawcook, a 59-43 winner over Caribou in the first game of the morning.

At the end of the third quarter, Rockland leads 49-48. Dylan Meklin and Tyler Patterson combined for all but 3 of Rockland's points in the quarter.

UPDATE: Maranacook leads 55-51 and has the ball with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter.

UPDATE: Rockland's Teel Ilvonen just hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game. Maranacook leads 55-54 and has the ball with 27.2 seconds left. Rockland is over the limit for personal fouls in the half.

UPDATE: Will Bardaglio hit two free throws to give Maranacook a 57-54 lead with 18.9 seconds left. Rockland has the ball out of bounds after a timeout.

The Rangeley boys basketball team suffered a tough loss when junior guard Quinn Philbrick went down for the season with a knee injury in a game recently against Gould Academy. Philbrick averaged seven points and six assists per game for the Lakers.

Still, Rangeley has plenty of scoring options heading into Saturday's Western D quarterfinal game against Seacoast Christian.

After four years, Maine Central Institute boys basketball head coach Mike Brown has decided to step down. Brown said the decision was based on his desire to watch his sons, currently in sixth and first grade, play ball.

"When I applied for the job, I told (MCI) I probably had four or five years in me," Brown said. "I want to watch what (his sons) are doing. That's kind of been the plan all along.

Those who don't care for conference championship games should have watched Maranacook and Camden Hills go at it Saturday night in the Kennbeec Valley Athletic Conference Class B game.

Erskine Academy had no say in the power going out twice Thursday night in its game against Gardiner. But school officials do have power over the atmosphere they create, and as usual it was lively and positive.

Officials are bashed so often at games and on the Internet, it seems only fair to point out when they do a good job. That was the case Monday night at Gardiner when the Tigers hosted unbeaten Maranacook.

Every now and then, a group of can't-miss middle school basketball prospects emerges. That was the case four years ago in the Capital Area Middle School League.

Too bad every high school basketball game couldn't be as exciting and competitive as the Dirigo at Winthrop game Friday night. Then again, that's what separates these games from the regular season pack.

Winthrop looks to complete a sweep tonight of the top three teams in the Mountain Valley Conference when it takes on Dirigo in Winthrop.

When Cony High School senior center Andrew Pullen missed a shot early in the overtime period of the Rams game against Lewiston High School on Thursday night, part of the Lewiston crowd chanted, "Overrated."
At least one person involved with the Lewiston program doesn't think that word applies to Pullen, after his 23-point performance in the Rams' 73-71 OT win Thursday.

The Maranacook boys basketball team defeated Camden Hills 76-67 in an exciting, pulsating, insert-adjective-here game in Rockport on Tuesday night.

Maranacook's Mike Poulin has often been overshadowed by high-scoring teammates Ryan Martin and Will Bardaglio, but the senior point guard is a key to the Black Bears success.

Maranacook's Will Bardaglio and Ryan Martin each spoke with collegiate basketball representatives following their team's 60-47win over Gardiner on Tuesday night.

I've made a few scoring mistakes covering basketball throughout my career, but I was pretty sure I had it right Friday night at Erskine Academy.

It's never too early for a test on the basketball court and three of them are on tap Tuesday night in just the second game of the season.

Friday night is opening night of the high school basketball season, and in the KVAC Class A, there are a couple of interesting games.

Lawrence plays at Skowhegan. Both teams feel they've improved from last season, and expect to make playoff runs. For Skowhegan, a key is how much have Jordan Taylor and Paul Verville, who both started as freshmen last year, improved? For Lawrence, have the Bulldogs developed an inside game that will spark the offense? Expect both teams to play strong defense, as Skowhegan coach Troy Scott played at Lawrence under Mike McGee, and both stress defense first.

With the high school basketball season around the corner, dozens of questions are cropping up and I can hardly wait for the answers.