There were 23 athletes in the York High School boys basketball program when Randy Small took over as head coach at the beginning of last season.

It was all new at the old gym known as The Pit at the University of Maine Thursday afternoon.

The New England Basketball Hall of Fame’s fifth induction ceremony on Oct. 9 will include many outstanding high school and college athletes and coaches from the state of Maine.

Maine Hoops, now known as MBNation, would like to announce the 14th annual Fall Basketball League. Last year the league consisted of over 70 teams from all overMaine and New Hampshire.

Ron Brown, a longtime basketball coach and author of the Bangor (Maine) Daily News' "Time Out" sports column, died Tuesday due to complications from renal failure at the age of 58. According to the Daily News, Brown first experienced kidney failure in 1984 before undergoing a successful transplant in 1989. The kidney lasted nine years, then failed. He had been undergoing dialysis treatment three times per week since 1998.

WATERVILLE -- Before Steve Clifford told a group of boys everything they could possibly want to know about running and defending a pick-and-roll, he told them a little bit about Rashard Lewis. Lewis is a two-time NBA All-Star who starts for the Orlando Magic. Clifford talked about how he prepares for a game, how he deals with coaches and how hard he works. Clifford, a former basketball player at the University of Maine at Farmington, has first-hand knowledge of Lewis's habits. Clifford has been an assistant coach with the Magic the last two seasons and has coached or scouted in the NBA since 2000. Clifford, 47, was in Waterville on Monday to help at the Pine Tree Basketball Clinic at Colby College. He was born in Lincoln, Maine, and grew up in Vermont before coming back to Maine to attend UMF. "I wanted to play, and I wanted to be a special ed teacher," Clifford said. "My degree was learning disabilities, and of the schools that recruited me, that was the best fit all the way around." At UMF, Clifford played for coach Len MacPhee and was named the Beavers' top defensive player two years in a row. "He was an ideal coach for me," Clifford said. "He was a disciplinarian. He was knowledgeable. He was very no-nonsense. I've said this before, but I can't imagine anybody having a better experience with their coach than I did playing for him."