The warm-ups were over, the sportsmanship awards had been handed out, and the Lake Region and Waterville girls' basketball teams were about to take to the Bangor Auditorium floor Friday night when ...

They were told to go back to their locker rooms. The problem? Either condensation or a leak in the roof was causing water to drip onto one of the foul lines every 15 to 20 seconds.

The remedy? While play was at the other end of the court, two towel-bearing workers would hustle to the foul line, do their wiping and run back.

Fine. It worked. For both the girls' game and the following boys' final between Maranacook and Cape Elizabeth. Never were the workers caught flat-footed because of a steal and fast break.

But the point isn't whether they affected play but whether the situation should have existed at all. No, you can't blame the Maine Principals' Association for this one. It's just the state of the available buildings in this state.

The Bangor Auditorium may be tradition-laden with tons of atmosphere, but it's old. More than 50 years old, and with each year, its age is becoming more of a factor.

Things aren't a lot better at the other venues used for the high school tournaments. The Portland Expo, which is approaching 100 years old, had its own leaking and wipe-the-floor problems during games this season. The Augusta Civic Center, a sterile building which is adequate but not much more, is more than 30 years old. And the Cumberland County Civic Center, also more than 30 years old, is simply too vast, dank and lifeless to be suitable for more than it's already used.

The problem is, what are the alternatives? Alfond Arena at UMaine has men's and women's basketball and hockey and would be unavailable. Other college sites aren't suitable for the tournament crowds, and also have their own teams that take precedent.

And of the current sites, remember that the Cumberland County Civic Center still has the Portland Pirates as the prime tenants.

With no real plans for future construction, there's simply no solution for the MPA. Yet with each passing year, the current sites are going to get less and less viable.

And then what?