Money belonging to members of the Medomak Valley boys’ basketball team was stolen from the locker room during a practice Thursday for the state high school basketball championship.

Police said a man got into the boys dressing room at the Cross Insurance Arena while the team was practicing for Friday night’s Class B game against Cape Elizabeth, rummaged through multiple backpacks and wallets and took cash out of several of them. Police said about $1,000 was stolen.

Medomak Valley Coach Nick DePatsy said Saturday that many of the players work and he had warned them about carrying a lot of money with them. He said the locker room door was unlocked and the boys had left their street clothes and other items “lying around” in the room before heading out to practice.

“I told them they carry too much cash around, but they’re kids,” said DePatsy, who has been a basketball coach for 25 years, the last eight with Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro. He said his teams have had items stolen from locker rooms before, but it usually was a small amount of cash, unlike Thursday.

Police said they have a suspect and are actively seeking to arrest him.

Before the state title game, a donor provided money to cover what was taken from the boys. DePatsy said the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a woman who lives in Greater Portland who “wanted to make things right” for the players.

He said the donation took the matter off the boys’ minds before the game. Cape Elizabeth beat Medomak Valley, 44-42, on a last-second shot.


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