Getting ejected from a tournament basketball game is tougher and rarer than being whistled for a minor penalty in overtime of a hockey playoff.

It almost never happens. Officials exercise more discretion than ever, sometimes even giving a player who receives a technical foul a courtesy warning before a slip of the tongue earns them a second 'T' and dismissal from the game.

All of which is probably why Rangeley coach Tom Philbrick didn't waste many words in protest when veteran referee T.J. Halliday issued a double technical and automatic ejection to Kent Madeira with 4:32 remaining in the first quarter of Wednesday's Western Class D boys semifinal against Richmond.

One anonymous Rangeley fan expressed his displeasure that the official didn't err on the side of tolerance, shouting above the din: "He's a senior!"

Philbrick would hear none of it.

"(Halliday) just said he said something. I don't question the officials on stuff like that," he said. "We're setting a standard. If we're going to live up to that standard, then that's what should happen."

The last postseason ejection on the Augusta floor was three years ago, when Hyde School coach Tom Bragg was assessed his second technical late in a regional championship game.

Bragg didn't have an assistant coach that day, so the school's athletic director joined the Hyde captains on the bench in "coaching" the rest of the game.

Rangeley had similar difficulty adapting to the dramatic personnel change, even with it happening early in the game.

"The adjustments I wanted to make later, I had to make earlier," Philbrick said, "so (Richmond was) able to adjust to it because it was too far out from the fourth quarter. I burned some timeouts to hold things together."

The Maine Association of Basketball Coaches held press conferences Wednesday at the tournament sites in Augusta, Bangor and Portland to announce this year's 10 semifinalists for Mr. and Miss Basketball, as well as the McDonald's Senior All-Star teams.

Coreen Hennessy of Fryeburg Academy is one of the 10 selections for Miss Basketball, while Sam Leclerc of Winthrop and Maranacook's Ryan Martin are in the Mr. Basketball mix.

Three finalists for each award will be announced after the tournament is complete.

The award presentations on Friday, March 14 at Husson College.

All-star games will be played at Husson on March 15. Hennessy, Kari Pelletier of Oxford Hills, Nikki Kaulback of Dirigo, Jenn Lola of Monmouth and the Telstar tandem of Bailey Davis and Josie Reiss were girls' selections. Leclerc, Martin, Mike Poulin of Maranacook, Owen Jones of Mountain Valley, Colby Knapp of Dirigo, Zach Keene of Livermore Falls and Tim Gingras of Winthrop made the boys' squads.

Among the coaches for the all-star games: Doug Lisherness (Mt. Abram), Troy Eastman (Buckfield), Dave Gerrish (Mountain Valley) and Rob Schmidt (Mountain Valley).

The coaches' association also announced all-academic teams. Pelletier and Monmouth's Katie Woodman received that distinction.