In southern Maine, the Scarborough boys and girls and Windham boys are among teams enjoying strong starts this season.

By Steve Craig 1/3/2024
www.pressherald.com/2024/01/03/basketball-notebook-medomaks-depatsy-credits-support-on-his-way-to-400th-win/

THE WINDHAM BOYS have already topped last year’s win total. The Eagles are 6-0 after Tuesday’s 67-62 home overtime win against fellow AA North contender Cheverus (6-2). Windham returned 13 varsity players from last season’s 5-14 squad.

“I think this is a special group of kids. They truly, truly care for one another and it shows on the court,” said Coach Chad Pulkkinen, noting his team has consistently had four players at or near double-digit scoring in each game.

Blake McPherson went off for 24 points with six 3-pointers against Cheverus, and Adrian Moody (12), Creighty Dickson (11) and Tyrie James (11) were other scoring threats. Quinton Lindsay set the tone in a win against Scarborough. Conor Janvrin had 11 points in one quarter against Thornton Academy.

Pulkkinen has encouraged a five-player attack with each player free to make decisions in a quest for the best shot.

“What makes us dangerous is we’re making pretty good decisions. They’re dedicated to that style of play and its helps us to be aggressive and hard to scout,” Pulkkinen said.

“We’re pretty small, so one of the knocks on us from different people is we’re not very big, but that’s fine. We’re not looking for excuses. We just use that as motivation,”