Thomas men’s basketball coach T.J. Maines is calling it “Legends of Maine Basketball.” It’s hard to argue with that.

What Maines helped set up as a fundraiser for the Thomas program is a clinic with four big names in Maine boys and men’s basketball history: Cheverus coach Bob Brown, former Medomak Valley and Westbrook coach Art Dyer, Tom Maines (T.J.’s father and now the girls coach at Scarborough) and recently retired Colby College coach Dick Whitmore.

Brown, Dyer and the elder Maines have 10 state titles between them, and Whitmore won 637 games in 40 years at Colby. All told, the four coaches have nearly 2,000 wins in their careers.

“What’s really unique about having the four of them speak is they’ve been friends since the ’60s,” T.J. Maines said. “The four of them used to get together for a weekend in the woods every spring or every fall. All they’d do is talk basketball.”

The event is 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 11 at Thomas College. About six hours of the day will be spent on a roundtable or Q&A session with the four coaches, and over the last two hours, everyone will watch a Thomas practice.

“We’ve got one school bringing eight coaches,” Maines said.

Any coaches wishing to attend the clinic should contact T.J. Maines at mainest@thomas.edu.

• • •

Maines’ team has had about 15 practices so far, and will open the season at home Nov. 15 against the University of Maine at Augusta.

“We’re going to be a lot better a month from now than we are right now,” Maines said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys in important places.”

The new face who will probably make the biggest impact is 6-foot-6 Martin Cleveland. If you follow the North Atlantic Conference, you might remember Cleveland from the 2006-07 season with Husson University. That year, Cleveland averaged 15.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for Husson. He was the leading scorer on a team that finished 22-6.

“He’s 24 years old,” Maines said. “He hasn’t played in four years. He’s had two tours of duty in Iraq.
“He’s got to get himself back in to playing shape, but he can be a dominant force.”

Junior Jarrad DeVaughn (21.0 points, 7.4 rebounds per game) and sophomore Franklin Salvador (12.3 ppg) are leading returning scorers for Thomas. Maines feels the Terriers have some great individual parts, but still need to improve in some key areas.

“The three keys for us: No. 1, we have to defend better than we did last year,” said Maines, whose team allowed 81.6 ppg last season. “No. 2, we have to have good offensive movement. We scrimmaged the other day, and it was awful. The last thing is, we’ve got to be in great shape, and we’re not there yet either.”

Of course, probably no coach has check marks next to his top three wishes this early in the season, and Maines is still optimistic about his team.

“I’ve got full confidence in our team, in our program, in our coaches,” he said.

• • •

The University of Maine at Farmington women’s volleyball team defeated Green Mountain in a North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal Saturday, and will have its semifinal match at 8 p.m. Friday against Maine Maritime Academy. That match will be played at Colby-Sawyer College, the regular-season champion and host of the tournament.

UMF has played the Mariners twice this season, losing 3-0 Sept. 9 and 3-1 Oct. 8. The latter loss was one of only two for the Beavers in their last 13 matches.

“I think we’re physically matched with them,” UMF coach Kika Nigals said. “If we continue playing well,

I think we can give them a run for their money. I think we’re just slightly intimidated by them because they’ve won our conference four years now.”

Even in the 3-0 loss to MMA, the Beavers made a good showing, losing the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 27-25. The rematch was tied 1-1 before UMF faltered in the third set.

“Volleyball is a game that can really turn on a dime, because every point is so obvious,” Nigals said. “You get two or three points in a row that don’t go in your favor, that worries the girls. So you just (tell them), ‘They’ve just rattled off two or three points in a row. We can do the same thing.’ ”

• • •

The UMF men’s soccer team also has a conference semifinal coming up, as the Beavers will play at Castleton State at 5 p.m. today.

The Beavers played Castleton once this season, losing 1-0 at home Sept. 8. UMF has won six of its last nine games, and all three losses were by one goal, including two in overtime.

Jordan Hale leads the Beavers in scoring with nine goals and five assists. Sophomore Derek Reilly has played the last three games in goal and has a 1.12 goals-against-average on the season.
 

Copy the Story Link