BANGOR, Maine — With blends of high-flying slam dunks, long-range 3-pointers that would make Stephen Curry smile and cohesive offensive flow, 40 of the top schoolboy basketball players in Maine put on an incredible display of all-star basketball Saturday.
The only suspense inside Husson University’s Newman Gymnasium was whether new light bulbs be needed for the scoreboards, as Maine’s top basketball talent showed off their skills one final time in a thrilling day at the McDonald’s Senior All-Star games.
Bragging rights between the North and South regions wound up being split, as the Classes AA-A-B contest went to the North 127-117 while the South got a little payback in the Classes C-D affair with a 124-101 triumph.
Basketball players will tell you that their competitive fire burns every time they step on the court, but the final score takes a back seat on this final day of the Maine high school hoops season.
“We all know each other great, we’ve all played against each other and stuff,” said Mount Desert Island’s Riley Swanson, who scored 14 points and is coming off a state-championship effort with the Trojans. “It’s cool to have this last game as the goodbye.”
The chemistry between Swanson and his AA-A-B North teammates was in full swing from the opening tap, as the North stars never trailed while seven players scored in double figures.
The game featured several alley-oop attempts and plenty of 3-point shots from well beyond the college line, including some from Swanson (14 points) and Deering of Portland’s Raffaele Salamone (17 points), the latter of whom will play football at the University of Maine next fall.
“I just started feeling it,” said Salamone, who displayed outstanding shooting touch for an interior player. “A chance to play with some friends the last game was pretty fun. It was a great experience.”
As for Swanson, it was a relief for him to test his long-range game without getting an earful from the sidelines.
“You don’t have your high school coach and AAU coach yelling at you that you’re pulling up too far [out], so it’s a relaxed scene,” Swanson said.
The only frustrating thing for Swanson: The lack of successful alley-oops.
“We couldn’t get any to fall,” he admitted. “We kept giving [Lawrence’s] Mason [Cooper] crap. Mason couldn’t get one to fall.”
Cheverus of Portland’s Jack Casale led the way with 18 points for the North while Edward Little of Auburn’s Samatar Iman tallied 16 points. Cooper and Nate DeSisto of Orono both had 15, Nate Violette from Messalonskee of Oakland added 13.
Leading the way for the South was Aleksander Medenica of Yarmouth with 26 points. South Portland’s Ruay Bol put in 20 and Austin Boudreau of Thornton Academy of Saco netted 18.
Mr. Maine Basketball winner Matt McDevitt of Greely of Cumberland Center tallied 14 points and Pat Pearl of Biddeford scored 11.
In the C-D game, state champion James Mersereau of Machias, who joined AAU teammate Justin Thompson from Schenck of East Millinocket and Nolan Altvater of Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook with 16 points, echoed the feelings of his large-school brethren.
“It was so fun,” he said. “These guys are really fun to play with. The dunk contest, that was fun.”
Mr. Basketball finalist Jacob Hickey of Winthrop and Nick Morales of Madison each tossed in 22 points to pace the South in a contest that mirrored that of the previous one. Both squads showed outstanding chemistry on the offensive end.
“It was just fun to get out there and have some fun playing some ball,” said Mersereau. “We’re all good ballplayers. We all read each other well.”
Mersereau also got to reunite with AAU teammates and friends Mitch Jarvis of Madison (16 points) and Morales.
The North’s other double-figure scorers were George Stevens of Blue Hill’s Jarrod Chase and Nate Gilman of Lee Academy (13 points).
For the South, Ehan James of Wiscasset scored 19 points, Austin Cates of Valley in Bingham posted 14 points and Dustin Crawford of Carrabec in North Anson added 10 points as the South pulled away early in the first half and never looked back.
