Oceanside’s boys basketball team is coming under scrutiny following a recent 88-point victory.
Five-year Oceanside head coach Larry Reed said he was instructed by the Maine Principals’ Association to “make the games a little more contested,” and that “if it continues, the Ethics Committee could step in.”
The reigning Class B runners-up are currently 11-0 with six victories of 50-plus points this season, beginning with a 110-59 victory over Cony on opening night and most recently a 126-38 win over Belfast on Wednesday — despite coach Reed’s routine efforts to curtail his team’s scoring during these lopsided victories.
Although punishment such as a postseason ban is “far away,” such a decision would be unprecedented for Maine high school basketball and calls into question whether the sports schedules and classifications are created fairly, as they rely on school enrollment size rather than competitive ability.
Reed has been forced to pull starters senior Carter Galley (25.4 minutes, 32.5 points per game), senior Cohen Galley (26.5 minutes, 23.3 points per game) and junior Zeb Foster (23.9 minutes, 12.6 points per game) halfway through the third quarter multiple times this season, and even instructed his team to not take any lay-ups late in the fourth quarter against Belfast.
“I did everything I could. They’re just unbelievable players,” Reed said. “These games are not fun for us; there’s no pleasure in it. I would love to play more of a [Class] A and B schedule.”
Aside from Cony (4-6), the Mariners have only played one other Class A team (Camden Hills, 6-6) this season, resulting in an 86-77 overtime win for Oceanside on the road back on Dec. 19. All nine of their other games have been played against Class B opposition.
Oceanside finished 20-2 last year, winning Class B South but losing to Orono 61-58 in the state final. The Mariners had just one victory of more than 40 points last year, a 113-34 blowout of Belfast at home.
“Scheduling is very difficult given the size of our league and ensuring everyone has a schedule. There is no agreement between scheduling for competitive games or scheduling with geographic/economic intentions. I’m sure there is a solution but at the moment it is alluding us,” Cony athletic director and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference statistician Thomas Maines said.
“I watched the Cony-Oceanside game. Carter Galley and his teammates played exceptionally well. The bottom of their bench played the last 4-5 minutes — by the way, they are good too — and they continued to score. The onus was on us to stop them. If people think that the subs should come in and hold the ball, that is a massive disservice to them and the time they put in daily.”