The Maine Principals’ Association will wait until this fall to determine where it will hold the 2017 Class B boys’ and girls’ basketball state championship games.

“We won’t be making any decision on our end until October when our basketball committee meets,” said Dick Durost, the MPA’s executive director.

The site for the 2017 Class B championship games is unknown because of a scheduling conflict at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, where the games were originally slated to be played.

The Class B championship games are traditionally played on a Friday night, which would be March 3.

The arena has booked the America East women’s basketball tournament quarterfinals and semifinals for the weekend of March 3-5, with team practices scheduled for March 3 and games on Saturday, March 4, and Sunday, March 5.

Last week Matt Herpich, the arena’s general manager, notified the MPA that it would be in the athletic organization’s best interest to seek an alternative site for its championship games.

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The scenario is likely to be repeated in 2018, when the America East women’s tournament is scheduled to return to Portland.

Durost said it will be important for the MPA to look at the scheduling of championship sites as a two-year situation.

Durost said he has talked with representatives from Augusta Civic Center and Cross Insurance Center in Bangor about shifting the Class B title games to their venue this winter.

“Right now neither one is booked for that Friday night and we have that night on a bit of a reserve,” Durost said.

The Class AA and A championship games are scheduled to be played in Augusta and the Class C and D games in Bangor, all on Saturday, March 4.

Durost said having two nights of championship games in either Augusta or Bangor is the most likely scenario, leaving Portland without a title game.

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“Based upon what (arena) management is saying, they feel they’re locked in to the women’s tournament but if by October they are able to work things out and say then can get us in, then that’s where we’ll be,” Durost said.

South regional tournament games in Class AA, Class A and Class B will continue to be played at the Portland Expo and Cross Insurance Arena during the February school vacation week, which is Feb. 20-25 in 2017.

The arena announced in December it would be hosting the America East tournament in both 2017 and 2018.

Herpich said he began discussing scheduling with the MPA following the completion of the 2016 high school tournament.


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