Rather than stick with coverage of the final seconds of Saturday night’s NCAA Tournament West Regional playoff game, Bangor television station WABI (Channel 5) violated one of its own unofficial rules and dropped live coverage of a game in progress in favor of another event.

WABI switched to pregame coverage of the Class A high school state basketball championships.

After talking with WABI program director Steve Hiltz, it’s easier to understand why WABI did what it did Saturday night. However, I still must disagree.

St. Joseph’s was leading Boston College – one of the few remaining New England teams in the tournament that also happened to have a Maine player on the roster – 77-72 with only 11 seconds remaining in overtime. Boston College had possession of the ball and called a timeout just before 7 p.m.

At 7 p.m., WABI switched from the BC-St. Joe’s game to the high school coverage even though the girls game wouldn’t start for another 20 minutes.

Hiltz said there were two reasons for the switch: the station’s contractual obligation to provide the high school telecast to two other Maine stations (WPXT in Portland and WAGM in Presque Isle) and the fact that the NCAA game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

It’s hard to argue with the first reason, but I don’t buy the second. BC had possession. All the Eagles needed was one 3-point play and a steal to tie the score, and 11 seconds is plenty of time for those things to happen.

As for the first reason, WABI was handling total production of both high school games and, according to Hiltz, could not technically beam the high school coverage to the other stations while sticking with the BC game itself since the production had to be handled on WABI’s studio control board.

To Hiltz’s credit, he had a few seconds to make a hard decision, did it, and stuck to it.

But what if BC had staged a miracle comeback?

We can all cite examples of improbable comebacks such as the infamous Heidi game on NBC decades ago. NBC’s telecast of an NFL game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders was pre-empted by the start of a Heidi movie.

There’s a big difference between the two games, however. Boston College didn’t come back and win the game, Oakland did.

But miracle finishes and unbelievable plays are fairly common in the NCAA Tournament. They happen every year.

However, the Eagles made up only a point and lost the game. Hiltz gambled and won, but he violated one of his own rules in the process. Was it worth it?

Not in the long run. A decision like this could cast doubt in the minds of WABI’s sports viewers, who may be left wondering whether the station might do something like this again. Those viewers may decide they’d be better off watching the next game at a sports bar or on satellite TV, where they know they’ll be able to see the game – from start to finish.

– Andrew Neff, BDN

UMaine hockey players have earned touting rights from their community press this season.

BDN sports writers can’t complain about the hockey program any more, but continue their line of negative news reporting.

Under the guise of positive reporting, Deirdre Fleming takes another pot shot at UMaine hockey.

Fleming’s unsubtle first paragraph of Sounding Off [March 8] digs at the shortened hockey season. Why bring up a negative in an otherwise list of positives, while the rest of the news media has endless praise for the 1996-97 Black Bears and Shawn Walsh?

USA Today said, “some of the best hockey in Hockey East is being played at the Alfond, boasting the league’s best record since Christmas, impressing national pollsters with wins against nationally ranked teams. Coach Walsh commended his Black Bears,” applauding the efforts of his team and saying repeatedly, “These players brought the Maine jersey back.” [U.S. College Hockey On-Line]

After the BDN’s verbal thrashing of the hockey program this fall and the Black Bears’ stellar performance the second half of the season, touting is in order.

– Vicki Price, Eden Prairie, Minn., and mother of Jason Price

Having had the opportunity to attend most of the Class A basketball tournament games at the Bangor Auditorium on the weekend of March 7 and 8, I observed on several occasions an unfortunate occurrence which for some reason escaped the attention of the numerous MPA officials as well as others who were “in charge.”

Specifically, I refer to a few of the posters held up by students from certain school systems which displayed inapproriate remarks about opposing team players and/or the communities they represented. I believe that sportsmanship is important to the Maine Principals’ Association, otherwise why have the public address announcer read before each contest the message regarding respect for the players, officials, etc., etc.?

Actions speak louder than words; therefore, I offer the following very original idea. Ban all unsportsmanlike posters.

Secondly, the MPA and tournament officials might want to give a listen to some of the spirited group chants. Very interesting, for sure, but not in keeping with the high expectations of those in charge.

– Frank Hallet, Washburn

Readers may submit “Sounding Off” comments to the Bangor Daily News’ Sports Desk at P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402-1329. Our fax number is (207) 990-8092. All comments will be edited for accuracy, clarity, content, and taste.