Mike Hathaway remembers the first time he brought his Leavitt High boys’ basketball team to the Portland Expo for the Holiday Hoops Showcase.

He had told Portland coach Joe Russo in the summer that the Hornets would play anybody, such was his desire to get his young but talented team on the Expo court where Class A and B South regional postseason games are played.

“After the season started, Joe calls and says he got me in. ‘You said you’d play anybody, right? We got Brooklyn Tech for you,'” Hathaway said, referring to Transit Tech from Brooklyn.

That game back in 2018 ended up being a 20-point loss for the boys from Turner (population 5,807 at the time), but it had value. They competed well and got their experience at a tournament site.

Now called the Varsity Maine Holiday Hoops Showcase presented by Evergreen Credit Union, the 35th edition of what was once a true tournament is a four-day combination of exhibition games and Maine regular-season contests. It doesn’t draw big crowds like it used to, but the combined 37 boys and girls teams — including both Leavitt and Transit Tech — still enjoy and learn from the holiday experience.

Transit Tech is coached by Presque Isle native Kenneth Hafford. The 2023 New York City public school champions have become a Holiday Hoops staple since first being invited by former Portland athletic director Rich Drummond, an ex-teammate of Hafford’s.

Tech’s players look forward to their annual trip to Maine, Hafford said, which includes visits to Maine colleges (UNE and USM this year). Current do-it-all Husson University guard Jeremy Moronta is a Tech grad.

“The value of bringing our team up here, just team bonding and camaraderie building, and all that stuff has so much value, but just the fact of getting these inner-city kids up here to see a different brand of basketball than they’re used to is pretty awesome,” Hafford said. “It’s a win-win for everyone. They’re not used to our style and we’re not used to their style.”

Tech, which nipped Portland 62-59 in overtime in Thursday’s nightcap, beat Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 60-39 on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Leavitt earned a regular-season Class B South win, beating Cape Elizabeth 66-49 in the fourth of Friday’s eight games. Leavitt improved to 3-3; Cape is 2-4.

Leavitt sophomore guard Colin Schlobohm enjoyed the day. Displaying a good handle and a strong 6-foot-2 frame on drives to the basket, Schlobohm scored 28 points (17 in the first half), dished some dimes and was glad to be back on the court two days after Christmas.

“The break was nice. Got some good family time. Now we’re ready to play,” he said.

The girls team from Franklin, Massachusetts, coached by Winthrop native John Leighton (Class of 1989), started its three-day, two-game, two-arena trip with a double-digit win against Lincoln Academy of Newcastle. Franklin, a school of 1,500 that’s among the top Massachusetts Division I girls programs, will play Saturday against Class A North contender Lawrence at the Augusta Civic Center.

“We are a different team this year, made up of a lot of guards instead of bigs, and we came here to get better and to learn to work together better,” said Franklin senior guard and co-captain Chloe Fales. “And in this game, we had to adapt to different shooters on the other team, their height, and their press. And we did that, so that was good.”

Alvirne High of Hudson, New Hampshire, which plays in the large-school Division I, is playing three games in three days at the Expo. After beating Augustus Martin of Queens 65-4 on Thursday, the Broncos scrapped their way to a foul-plagued 54-44 win on Friday against Lincoln Academy. Mitchell Roy, 26, is in his first season as Alvirne’s coach after leading Profile of Bethlehem to New Hampshire’s small-school Division IV crown last year.

“It’s been an awesome experience. It’s a cool venue to play in,” Roy said. “We’re staying over at a hotel for three nights, so it’s good team bonding. We’re trying a lot of different lineups. We’re trying to play faster because we need to be scoring more points. … Hopefully this trip will add some team chemistry, and I’ll get to know them better so I can coach them better.”