The state tournaments are starting up for high school hoops and there’s a powerhouse team in Class B that has people talking. It has sparked a debate about “running up the score.”
After falling to Orono in the Class B state championship last year, the Oceanside Mariners are on a mission for the gold ball this season.
Appearing on a podcast, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White talked about Oceanside, saying the team should be lauded, not criticized.
White, who attended Hermon High School and now is one of the most well-known figures in sports, said being great is not disappointing.
“It’s disappointing that a really talented group of kids are so good that they’re outscoring these teams by massive numbers. No, there’s nothing disappointing about that. The fact that somebody is disappointed about that is what’s disappointing,” White said.
The Mariners are currently a perfect 18-0, scoring more than 90 points per game on average and beating teams by around 40 points per game.
They started off game 1 with a 51-point win at home against Cony. The next week, Camden Hills took them to overtime, but they scored triple digits five more times after that.
Two of those were against Belfast, winning the home and home series by an average of more than 80 points.
Belfast Athletic Director Sue Robbins told the Kennebec Journal she was “disappointed” by this. That’s where White joins the conversation.
“What you’re doing is you’re telling a group of young kids to not be as great as they could possibly be. Because they’re looking at an opportunity to be the best team ever in that city or the best team ever in the state of Maine,” White said.
Robbins declined to comment to CBS 13.
“Some of these kids may never play basketball at this level ever again competitively. And if they have the opportunity to break records, while you’re in high school, and set these records that might never be broken,” White said.
White adds he would want the opportunity to try to beat a team like this.
Oceanside Athletic Director Troy Smith didn’t want to comment on the scoring situation and says the Mariners are focusing on the playoffs.