The Great, The Good, The Bad + The Ugly [OPINION]

I had a chance to experience it all today at the 22nd Great Harbor Shoot-Out. This year it was a sold out event, attracting nearly 90 boys and girls and teams and their families from across the state. The Shoot-Out's goal is to aim to foster healthy competition, team spirit and the love of sport in young people.

The Tourney relies on hundreds of volunteers and is very well run. It provides a great economic boost to the Island and Ellsworth and the proceeds help support the programs of the Harbor House

The Great

The High School Boy's Final between Winslow and Houlton was GREAT! Winslow ended up winning 87-82. If there are record books for the Great Harbor Shoot-Out they can throw them away, and if there aren't you can start with this game! Kyle Bouchard of Houlton scored 55 points in the loss, including hitting 8 3-pointers. Justin Martin of Winslow hit 8-3's and 31 points for Winslow in the win. Winslow scored 13 3's in the game. Bouchard played all 32 minutes for Houlton. 169 total points has to be a record. Both teams respected each other and there was quite a bit of mutual respect and great sportsmanship by both Winslow and Houlton.

The Good

The MDI - Lawrence Girl's High School game was very good. Lawrence led 24-12 at the end of the 1st Quarter, and 37-27 at the end of the 1st Half. MDI outscored Lawrence 41-17 in the second half to win 68-54. MDI was coached by legendary former MDI coach Burt Barker and also by two former players, Megan Phelps and Sara Carroll. Lawrence never gave up, and there was a great cheer from their players at the end of the game.

The Bad

The ending of the Junior High Girl's Game between the Icebreakers, which was a combined team of Brewer and Hampden and the Glenburn team. The Icebreakers won 35-33, when Braylee Wildman was fouled with 0.1 second left and she sank two of three foul shots to give the Icebreakers the game. Regardless of whether you think there was a foul or not, when no one from the Glenburn team would come up to accept the runner up granite plaque, that was bad.

The Ugly

The Junior High Boy's game between Auburn Junior High and the Glenburn Elite. In 7 years of broadcasting basketball games, almost 300 games, I have never seen a more physical basketball game below college level. The ending, unbelievably ugly, as the Auburn coach rushed the court, swearing as he went out, after one of his players was elbowed. The game was stopped with 30 seconds left. There is never a reason for a coach to act like that. If you felt that your team was in danger, then in my opinion you forfeit the game, and take your team off the court. No one is going to fault you for that! The referees lost control of the game, but the coaches are responsible for the actions of their players. In my opinion good coaches control their players. They should not allow them to throw elbows, and should sit them if they do. If the refs couldn't control the game, it was up to the coaches, and neither coach attempted to calm their team. The result was an ugly example of sportsmanship. This is a game that should be used as an example to youth coaches of how not to coach.

The above are solely my opinions, and are not a representation of WDEA AM 1370 or the Harbor House.