Maintenance workers from the Augusta Civic Center move a section of floor panel while installing the basketball floor at the Augusta Civic Center on Monday in Augusta. The Augusta Civic Center will host the Class A North and Class C and D South tournaments starting Friday evening. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

On the final day of the regular season, the most surprising result came when Class AA South cellar dweller Bonny Eagle pounded Class A South leader Noble, 57-24.

Scots (7-11) coach John Trull admitted, “We weren’t expecting that,” but, “We got a home playoff game, which is a goal for every team. That’s the first goal. To host a game and then get to (Cross Insurance Arena).”

So what happened to the Knights, who finished 16-2 and remained atop A South? Initial reports indicated they “rested” several of their top players. Actually, Noble was hit hard by the flu, said coach John Morgan. Starting 6-foot-7 center Andrew Marzoli didn’t make the trip to Standish. Starting guards Jamier Rose, a Mr. Maine Basketball semifinalist, and Chase Dodier were there in street clothes. Senior guard Bryce Guitard, Noble’s No. 2 scorer, tried to play but only lasted two minutes.

“We weren’t pulling an NBA stunt,” Morgan said. “Our guys want to to play every single game and suit up every single game, but I’m not going to over-extend ourselves.”

Morgan also agreed with a reporter’s opinion that if the same scenario had played out in the middle of the season it would have barely registered a blip of attention. The upset was most noteworthy because Bonny Eagle made such a big jump in the standings on the final night of the season.

If Bonny Eagle had finished seventh, it would be playing its AA South quarterfinal at No. 2 South Portland (13-5). Now it will host No. 5 Sanford (6-12). The Scots split with Sanford this season, each team winning at home. Bonny Eagle is 6-4 at home; 1-7 on the road.

“We definitely play better at home,” Trull said.

South Portland girls surging

The Red Riots are 15-3, the top seed in AA South, and on a seven-game winning streak that includes avenging a loss to Cheverus (13-5) and beating South No. 2 Gorham (14-4) for a second time. South Portland has not lost to a AA South team this season.

First-year coach Brianne Maloney said she’s seen consistent improvement from her still youthful club (Emma Travis is the lone senior starter), particularly in terms of “game decisions.” Sophomore point guard Annie Whitmore flipping her assists-to-turnover ratio from a negative to a positive is one key example.

“That confidence that wasn’t there yet when we lost to Cheverus in the third game of the year, it was there when we played Cheverus later,” Maloney said.

Travis and junior Caleigh Corcoran are veterans who rarely come off the floor and contribute in a variety of ways. Mya Lawrence, a sophomore guard, is scoring more. And, Destiny Peters, at 5-11 the Riots tallest player, is becoming an ever more forceful double-double player.

Champs back to full strength

Windham’s boys team, the defending Class AA champion, looked primed to be the top seed in the North when they were 8-0 and 12-1. Then came consecutive losses to Oxford Hills (8-10), Cheverus (15-3) and Lewiston (8-10) while junior guard Tyrie James was sidelined with an ankle injury. James returned from a four-game absence on Friday and Windham handled Deering, after beating Scarborough earlier in the week.

Windham struggled when guard Tyrie James, right, missed four games with an ankle injury. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

James’ absence was felt in all aspects of the game — scoring, play-making, defense and, especially, having another composed veteran in close games.

“We had some tough losses in that stretch, but it was good for our guys. A lot of guys had different opportunities and that will make us better,” Windham coach Chad Pulkkinen said.

Beep! Beep! Roadrunners race back to top of C South

A year ago, the Mt. Abram boys were the No. 1 in seed in Class C South after being the overwhelming favorite to do so from the start. How the Roadrunners got there this year was a different story.

Mt. Abram entered this season having to replace two all-Mountain Valley Conference first-teamers in Payton Mitchell and Cam Frost-Grey. Yet here the Roadrunners are again, having long clinched the No. 1 seed at 17-1.

“I felt we’d be a 5 or 6 (seed), most likely,” said Jeff Pillsbury, Mt. Abram’s first-year coach. “A lot of the kids that have filled in had very limited playing time last year, but (Brennan) Mitchell has been ahead of schedule, and (Chase Ross) has come in and helped with our guard play.”

Mitchell a 6-foot-4 sophomore, has given Mt. Abram an excellent presence in the post alongside 6-5 center Reagan Lockaby. In addition to the guard play of Ross, Killian Pillsbury and Bryce Wilcox have taken on bigger roles this season.

“Bryce is still our guy; I think he had a lot of talent last year that didn’t get exposed,” Jeff Pillsbury said. “Killian, he’s at five assists and four steals a game. With him running the point, we don’t typically get turned over a lot.”

Erskine girls experienced enough

As freshmen last year, several members of the Erskine Academy girls went to Bangor to watch the Class B title game along with their coach, Danielle Lefferts. The experience, Lefferts said, has driven the Eagles ever since.

“A bunch of them looked to me and said, ‘Coach, we can be here,’” Lefferts said. “I told them, ‘That’s the goal. You’re not freshmen anymore; you’re sophomores now.’ It’s been a goal all season long (to get to the Cross Insurance Center), but they’ve worked hard to attain it.

Guard Olivia Childs is part of a group of sophmores at Erskine Academy who have helped the Eagles earn a trip to Bangor for the Class B North tournament this season. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The sophomore-laden Eagles have done so as the No. 2 seed in Class B North, Erskine’s highest seed in at least 35 years — as far back as Maine Principals’ Association archives go. At 14-4, the Eagles also enter the tournament with their most regular-season wins since 2007-08.

“I think they’ve kind of started wrapping their minds around, ‘Hey, it doesn’t take age — age is a number — it takes talent,’ and they have the talent,” Lefferts said. “The girls are excited; they’re taking it one day at a time and not letting the pressure build up.”

Monmouth defies expectations

Monmouth boys coach Wade Morrill expected the 2024 Class C champion Mustangs to be competitive this season. But, because they graduated six players, he didn’t expect them to post a 14-4 record and earn the No. 2 seed in the Class C South tournament.

“Everything you’ve done prior to really doesn’t matter anymore,” Morrill said. “You know, everyone starts with a fresh record. And when you look at a lot of the games this year, there were a lot of pretty close games, a lot of games decided late in the game. Every team in our conference, in the Mountain Valley Conference, this year was pretty tough.”

Monmouth will face rival Winthrop, the seventh seed, or No. 10 Waynflete in the regional quarterfinals. During the regular season, the Mustangs beat the Ramblers 60-43 and lost to the Flyers 60-58.

“One is like a cross-town rival, so to speak, you know, right next door, 3 miles away,” Morrill said. “And the other one is a team that has already beaten us.”

Hornets learn from losses

Leavitt girls coach Kyle Rines said the Hornets’ three-game losing stretch in the middle of January against Mount View, Spruce Mountain and Erskine Academy was partly because of those teams’ consistency.

“I think, No. 1, we are still inexperienced when it comes to winning basketball, and all of those teams have one thing in common is that they have experience,” Rines said. “They know how to defend at a high level and they know how to put the ball to the hoop at a high level to get (wins). For us, it’s like we can defend really well, but we might not score it well. Or we score really well, but maybe we don’t defend. So doing both of those things on a daily basis for a game to beat a really good opponent is pretty key.”

The Hornets (12-6), the No. 7 seed, host No. 10 Yarmouth (7-11) in a B South prelim game at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday.

“We did not play them in the regular season, so it’s a bit of a different matchup, but we are excited,” Rines said. “Energy is really high. Both the boys and girls having home prelim games this week. It probably hasn’t happened in a while, so energy has been really high.”

Mike Mandell of the Morning Sentinel and Nathan Fournier of the Sun Journal contributed to this story.