Tourney sold out all programs Crowd turnout surprises staff

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BANGOR – If you didn’t pick up a copy of the Eastern Maine Class D tournament program, you’re too late.

The programs are all sold out, according to tourney director Bill Fletcher. And the Class B programs may be all gone, too.

The Class D programs went quickly during three Monday quarterfinal sessions, which drew 5,769 fans. The afternoon session, which featured boys teams from Lee, Katahdin of Stacyville, Deer Isle-Stonington and Jonesport-Beals, brought in 3,130 fans alone.

Fletcher said it’s rare to have programs sell out – most years the tournament staff throws programs away – but sellouts happen occasionally and did as recently as 3-4 years ago.

Tournament officials looked into getting more programs printed this week but the cost would have been $5 per program, far more than the $2 the programs sell for.

Atkins Printing in Waterville prints the programs.

“I thought probably they’d have the stuff set up so they could do that, but [the cost-effectiveness] didn’t make any sense,” Fletcher said. “I think in other years we’ll order about 250 more programs per class.”

Approximately 1,200 programs are printed for each class, according to Fletcher.

He said there is a set number of programs given away to the players, who each receive one as a souvenir, but the staff doesn’t count how many are given out to officials, staff or the media.

Last year, tourney staff threw away several cartons of programs, Fletcher said.

Maine Principals’ Association basketball committee member and Hodgdon High School principal Clark Rafford said the MPA determines the number of programs it prints based on the previous year’s sales and the size of the schools that advance to the Bangor Auditorium.

“We were just totally put back by the number of attendees in that quarterfinal game,” he said. “When you take that into consideration, a reprint doesn’t make any sense because you’re not going to sell many more. It’s a good problem to have.”

Fans honor Hudson

Maybe it’s a tribute to good coaching. Maybe it’s a way to cheer on the team.

Or maybe it’s a way to earn better grades.

Whatever it is, Presque Isle girls coach Jeff Hudson will take it.

The Wildcat fans have taken to chanting “H-U-D-S-O-N, Hudson, Hudson, Hudson!” before games and sometimes during timeouts.

Hudson got a dose of it during a timeout in the second quarter of Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class B semifinal, which turned out to be a 46-35 victory for the Wildcats.

“The first thing I think when I hear it is, ‘Those idiots,”‘ Hudson said. “But of course I love it.”

Hudson said he thinks the chant started with Gabe Cheney, a junior forward on coach Tim Prescott’s PI boys basketball team.

It could be, the coaching staff theorized, that Cheney is trying to earn some brownie points in school. Hudson teaches Algebra I-A, Finite Math, Honors Advanced Math and Math Lab, according to the high school’s Web site.

Whatever the reason, Hudson will take the chant.

“I consider it an honor. Because of course, P-R-E-S-C-O-T-T doesn’t really come out that well,” Hudson said, drawing a laugh from a crowd of Wildcat supporters, including Prescott himself.

Announcement draws crowd

The announcement of the Maine Basketball Coaches Association postseason awards drew a crowd of players, coaches and parents to the Bangor Civic Center Wednesday afternoon.

Among the players who attended the announcement were several semifinalists for the Mr. and Miss Maine Basketball awards.

On the boys side, Brewer’s Chris Wilson and Bangor Christian’s Brock Bradford were both in attendance.

Miss Basketball semifinalist Sabrina Cote of No. 1 Dexter was there too, minutes after a 16-point, eight-rebound performance in an Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal against No. 8 George Stevens of Blue Hill.

Hampden’s Jordan Cook, Falmouth’s Sean Costigan and Cheverus of Portland’s Bryant Barr were named Mr. Basketball finalists, while Katie Delong of Presque Isle, Kayla Parker of Sanford and Lake Region of Naples’ Samantha Allen were the Miss Basketball finalists.

The rest of the boys semifinalists were Carlos Strong (Deering), Jeff Manchester (Gorham), Greg Whitaker (Presque Isle), Mike Thomas (Marshwood), Joe Geoghegan (Cape Elizabeth).

The other girls semifinalists were Kristen Baker (Valley), Becky Dixon (Gardiner), Caitlin Hynes (Rockland), Emilie Knight (Winthrop), Caitlin Laflin (Hall-Dale) and Nicole Paradis (Skowhegan).