As the opening month of 2026 comes to a close and the Maine high school basketball regular season enters its final week, every team is aiming to be playing its best. Here are five that can stake that claim.

CHEVERUS

Despite Khaelon Watkins’ emergence as one of the state’s top freshmen, the early part of the season was tough sledding for Cheverus after losing starters A.J. Lauture and Jameson Fitzpatrick to injuries. Now Lauture and Fitzpatrick are back in the lineup, and the Stags are making noise in Class A South.

Lauture and Fitzpatrick returned after the team’s 72-48 loss on Jan. 8 at Bonny Eagle. The Stags haven’t lost since, winning five in a row to go from 4-6 to 9-6 in a stretch that has included recent victories over Thornton Academy and Portland.

Even before the winning streak, Cheverus coach Richie Ashley could feel momentum building. Over Christmas break, the Stags went to Tampa, Florida, for a tournament that he saw as a step forward.

“Even though we didn’t win any games down there, it was a good bonding experience that built a lot of camaraderie,” Ashley said. “Then, we got those guys back, and we’ve been playing pretty well as of late.”

CONY

Cony stumbled against other high-caliber Class B North teams in late December and early January. The Rams (14-2) have firmly gotten back on track over the past three weeks, though, beating several strong teams en route to seven straight wins.

Boasting the No. 2 offense in the state at 77.5 points per game, Cony bounced back from a 60-47 defeat on Jan. 6 at Hermon by beating Medomak Valley 95-89 at home three days later. The Rams made it back-to-back wins over the Panthers in their next game, claiming a 79-75 victory in the Jan. 15 rematch in Waldoboro.

Last Thursday, Carter Brathwaite scored 29 points to lead Cony past rival Gardiner, 75-69, avenging an earlier loss at the Augusta Civic Center. Then the Rams got arguably their biggest win of the season on Saturday as they beat previously undefeated Camden Hills 70-61 in Rockport.

YARMOUTH

York, Medomak Valley and Lake Region have been Class B South’s top three for much of the season. Once the calendar turned to 2026, though, no one has been better than Yarmouth, which has ridden an eight-game winning streak to a 12-3 record and the No. 3 spot in the Heal point standings.

“We’ve become a lot mentally tougher as the season has gone on,” said Yarmouth coach Connor Hasson. “I keep worrying that we’re going to slip a little bit, but our kids have just stayed hungry. All the credit goes to them.”

Yarmouth put the state on notice Jan. 15 when it handed York its only loss of the season. The Clippers had another big win Tuesday, establishing a big lead on visiting Lake Region en route to a 59-41 victory that impressed their coach.

“We won on the back of our defense, our ball security and our three main guards: Evan and Owen Oranellas and Andrew Kelly,” Hasson said. “I don’t think we could have won a game like that earlier in the season, and that’s a huge testament to those three.”

SPRUCE MOUNTAIN

On Dec. 11, Spruce Mountain coach Scott Bessey made his proclamation: “Get us now.”

Although the Phoenix were 0-2, they had lost to strong Mt. Abram and Hall-Dale teams by a total of five points, with key players battered from football season and star Cai Dougher yet to play. Bessey believed better times were ahead, and Spruce Mountain now has 13 consecutive victories.

“We were still who we are on defense (those first two games), but our offensive tempo was off,” Bessey said Monday. “Now that we’re back to 100 percent, we’ve been able to get back and run and fly, and our scoring has gone up consistently. Each game, we’ve just been able to get better and better.”

Spruce Mountain, which has the top-ranked defense in Class C at 39.1 points per game, had a 10-day layoff from Jan. 17-26. Yet the Phoenix got back to business with convincing wins Tuesday against Mountain Valley (63-41) and Wednesday against Lisbon (60-22) — just as Bessey predicted.

“All my worry about that long layoff, I know that’s just going to be me being a drama queen,” Bessey said. “Every time I get concerned, my team and these boys set me at ease because they’re so mentally tough and locked-in.”

MT. ABRAM

Elsewhere in the MVC, Mt. Abram is also rolling. Since dropping three consecutive games in mid-December, the Roadrunners (13-3) have rattled off 11 straight victories to establish themselves atop Class D South.

“The guards have been shooting a little better, and one of our bigs, Owen Cook, has picked it up rebounding-wise,” said Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do on the defensive side of things, that’s for sure, but we’re playing well together.”

Mt. Abram has topped 70 points in six of its eight games in 2026, and one of the two games in which the Roadrunners didn’t, a 48-45 win over Monmouth Academy on Jan. 16, avenged a 30-point loss on Dec. 11. Brennan Mitchell, averaging roughly 25 points and 10 rebounds, has fueled that offensive success.

“He’s a tough matchup, which is good because it frees our guards up to get some better looks,” Pillsbury said of the 6-foot-4 Mitchell. “For a big, he’s got some great guard skills, and he’s athletic. Other teams might have a big who’s as tall or as long, but he can run, he’s got a mid-range, and he can get to the rim.”