Wherever you are at this point, the 2023-24 Maine high school basketball season is beyond the point of full swing.

Nearly two-thirds of the season has gone by for certain teams as mid-January arrives in the state. For others, there’s much more left just to reach the halfway mark.

“You have some teams that haven’t played as many games,” said Troy Norton, head coach of the Mt. Blue boys team. “Even for the teams that have played more, there’s plenty of games left, but we’re definitely getting into the thick of it now.”

Wherever teams are, some teams have established themselves among the top contenders as the season intensifies. From Class A to Class D, numerous central Maine teams are positioned to make championship runs as the second half of January nears.

Look no further than Norton’s Mt. Blue boys squad when it comes to local powerhouses in Class A North. Picked sixth in the region in the preseason poll, the 9-0 Cougars are playing with a chip on their shoulder behind the leadership of one of the state’s top players in Evans Sterling.

Nokomis and Messalonskee, both 7-4, are also in the mix in the Class A North boys field. Yet possibly the biggest threat to Mt. Blue at the moment is Hampden Academy, which is 6-1 and boasts a potential Mr. Maine Basketball candidate in Zach McLaughlin (25.0 points per game).

“They’ve got really a great player in Zach McLaughlin, who’s similar to what we have with Evans,” Norton said. “I’d say they’re right there with us, but a lot of it comes down to matchups. Nokomis, for example, they’re a great team, but we match up really well with them and maybe don’t match up as well with some other teams.”

Maranacook (7-1) and Winslow (6-4) are putting together solid seasons in Class B North with the former averaging 75.5 points per game. The top contenders in that region, though, are to the east with Old Town (10-0), Ellsworth (9-2), Orono (8-3) and Caribou (8-2) forming a loaded Big East Conference.

The Mt. Abram boys entered the year as the favorite in Class C South, and the Roadrunners have done little to show they’re anything but thus far. At 8-0, Mt. Abram is outscoring foes by an average of 41.0 points per game behind the elite duo of seniors Payton Mitchell and Cam Frost-Gray.

“I think it’s Mt. Abram and then eight or nine teams that are kind of chasing them,” said Monmouth Academy head coach Wade Morrill. “They’ve got length, speed, quickness and shooting, they’re terrific defensively, and they’re well-coached. They’ve got two legitimate senior stars, and they have the perfect pieces around them.”

Still, Mt. Abram isn’t the only noteworthy team in C South. A Richmond team led by Wyatt Cassidy and Hunter Mason is also undefeated at 10-0, and Morrill’s Monmouth team is third behind the Bobcats and Roadrunners at 7-2. Dirigo, the defending state champion, is 6-1, and Madison is 6-2.

“I think a lot of teams are piecing it together after they lost some great seniors last year,” Morrill said. “You have a lot of younger kids going through the grind, and it’s about growth and development. I think we’re in that boat, but I think we’re about where we thought we’d be and might even be ahead of schedule.”

Although 6-3 Mount View is a lone wolf in Class C North as the sole central Maine team, the Mustangs might be among the best in the region. Mount View’s only losses thus far have to come to 9-1 Medomak Valley and 8-2 Lincoln Academy out of B South with two of those losses coming by a combined 10 points.

In Class D South, Valley is 6-3 with its three losses coming to Richmond (twice) and Mt. Abram by a combined 20 points. Four-time reigning regional champ Forest Hills is also in the mix in D South at 7-3, and newcomer St. Dominic Academy is also a contender in the region at 7-0.

On the girls side, reigning Class A State champ Lawrence entered the season as one of the favorites in the North despite losing heavy production. The 10-0 Bulldogs have certainly looked the part thus far, having stretched their winning streak to 15 games dating back to last season.

“These girls are young, but last year, they played in practice against our six good seniors, and I think they really learned a lot from that,” said Lawrence head coach Greg Chesley. “There’s still a tremendous amount of talent from last year, and I think things are really starting to click for them.”

After Lawrence, there’s a logjam of teams competing for the No. 2 spot in Class A North. Cony (6-4) and Skowhegan (5-5), who met Friday night with Cony draining 10 first-half 3-pointers in a 70-57 win, are in that fold locally. Camden Hills (6-5), Hampden (5-3) and Brewer (5-3) are in it elsewhere in the state.

Of those teams, perhaps the most intriguing is Cony. The Rams’ 6-4 has come against a brutal schedule that’s included two Class A contenders in Lawrence and Mt. Ararat and two Class B juggernauts in Oceanside and Spruce Mountain. Friday’s win, though, could be the galvanizing one Cony needed.

“We’re still growing, but I think (the win Friday) is going to help us a lot,” said Cony head coach John Dennett. “The last game (against Spruce Mountain) kind of drained us — it was a tough night, and we played our worst game of the year — so this one was big for us as we face some tough teams coming up.”

Maranacook is the top local girls team in Class B North at 5-3, though Ellsworth (10-0), Old Town (8-1) and Caribou (7-3) are the three overwhelming favorites in that region. It’s a similar story in C North, where Mount View (6-3) has to contend with 9-1 Hodgdon, Penobscot Valley and Mattanawcook Academy.

Class C South boasts a pair of undefeated central Maine teams in Hall-Dale (6-0) and Madison (8-0), while Richmond (8-2) and Winthrop (5-2) also sport strong records. North Yarmouth Academy (10-0) looks to be the toughest challenge for those teams come tournament time.

Then, there’s D South, where the 10-0 Valley Cavaliers have been ripping apart the competition all season long. It’s an impressive undefeated résumé for the Cavaliers, whose 10 wins have come by an average of 37.3 points per game with six of them coming against C South opponents.

“The last two years, we were seeded No. 1 but didn’t get it done at the tournament, and the kids have taken that to heart,” said Valley head coach Gordon Hartwell. “They’re maturing as players, and you can see it in how we’re much more well-rounded compared to last year, when we were a lot more guard-driven.”

At 7-2, Forest Hills is the top local threat to Valley in Class D South. There’s also 6-1 St. Dom’s as well as a 6-2 Waynflete team that Hartwell notes has a far bigger talent pool than anyone else in the region at 289 students (dropped down via Maine Principals’ Association’s new win-percentage threshold).

“St. Dom’s is quality, and Waynflete is quality; they have a really good guard and a really good big, and they pressure, so they’ll be tough,” Hartewll said. “Forest Hills, they’re gritty and tough, and they’re kids who work hard and are going to give 100 percent every time they’re out there playing.”

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