Several of Maine’s top high school and prep basketball players from the 2008-09 season will continue their athletic and academic careers at Husson University in Bangor beginning this fall.
Eight student-athletes have been accepted, paid a tuition deposit, and have verbally committed for next season, according to Husson head coach Warren Caruso.
Among those in the incoming class is 6-foot-10 center Marc Zaharchuk of Richmond, who played for the Maine Central Institute postgraduate team last winter after leading Richmond High School to the 2008 Western Maine Class D championship and earning Bangor Daily News All-Maine accolades as a senior.
Other freshmen will include Eben Powers of Deer Isle-Stonington, Phil Leighton of Lake Region of Naples, John Klages of Freeport, Eric Modica of Traip Academy in Kittery and Brooks Spaulding of Lawrence of Fairfield.
Two transfers also will join the program, as former Nokomis of Newport standout Dylan Palmer will come to Husson from Western Connecticut State, and former Bangor High School center Andrew Trundy of Glenburn also will play for the Eagles.
Powers, a 6-3 forward, was a four-year varsity player for coach Glenn Billings at Deer Isle-Stonington, and last winter averaged 25 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists per game. The 1,000-point career scorer was an honorable mention NEWS All-Maine selection, as well as a member of the East C/D McDonald’s Senior All-Star Team.
Leighton, a 6-1 guard, was a two-time All-Western Maine Conference honoree who as a senior who ranked third in the league with 18.7 points per game for Lake Region. He was an honorable mention NEWS All-Maine selection as well as a West A/B McDonald’s Senior All Star.
Klages, a 6-4 forward, averaged 15.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a senior at Freeport, earning All-Western Maine Conference and honorable mention NEWS All-Maine status, as well as a berth on the West A/B McDonald’s Senior All-Star Team.
Modica, a 6-2 guard, helped Traip to a 13-4 regular-season record by averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. An honorable mention NEWS All-Maine choice, he also was named to the West C/D McDonalds Senior All-Star Team.
Spaulding, a 6-5 forward, averaged 14 points and seven rebounds per game as a senior, sparking Lawrence’s late-season run to a berth in the Eastern Maine Class A championship game.
The new players will join eight returners from the 2009 Husson team that finished 16-12 and won its first North Atlantic Conference title to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The returning players will be led by first-team All-NAC choices Brock Bradford, a guard from Kenduskeag, and Matt MacKenzie, a forward from Warren. Both will be seniors next season.
Two other players on campus this year will join the basketball program next winter after sitting out the 2008-09 season. Josh Jones, a 6-5 junior forward who starred at Erskine Academy in South China, has transferred to Husson from the University of Texas-Permian Basin, while 5-11 junior guard Dwayne Mitchell is a transfer from the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
“We have a good nucleus returning and this recruiting class addresses many of our needs,” said Caruso in a press release. “We have the pieces to the puzzle to have a very solid season next year.”
McEwen fills role for Witches
One of the biggest question marks facing the Brewer baseball team as it began the defense of its 2008 Eastern Maine Class A championship was pitching depth.
But those concerns have been allayed by the recent work of junior righthander Pat McEwen.
Two starts ago, McEwen worked into the seventh inning to pick up the win against Bangor. He yielded only two runs through the first six innings, and finished up scattering 10 hits while allowing four earned runs with three strikeouts and four walks in Brewer’s 11-8 victory.
He followed that up Monday night with a complete-game two-hitter in an 8-1 victory over Oxford Hills of South Paris. McEwen struck out five and walked three in a 103-pitch performance, and retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.
“His last two starts have been awesome,” said senior catcher Andy Bush. “He’s definitely a huge pitcher for us. Both games, this game and the Bangor game, he was a big reason for the wins.”
McEwen faced his biggest test against Oxford Hills in the third inning when two walks and a single by Matt Verrier loaded the bases with no outs. But only one run scored as McEwen retired the next three batters he faced.
“Pat McEwen’s really making himself into a great pitcher,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris. “[Oxford Hills] had some good hitters, but he really threw a great game.”
Tigers surge in KVAC B
One team epitomizing the tight competition within the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B baseball ranks is Rockland.
After getting off to a 1-2 start this spring, the Tigers have won four of their last five contests after Monday’s 7-5 victory at Mount View of Thorndike. In that contest pitcher Dylan Meklin threw a complete-game three-hitter with 11 strikeouts and four walks.
It’s a run good enough to elevate Rockland to second place in the latest Eastern Maine Class B Heal point ratings.
There have been some notable victories within the Tigers’ recent streak, particularly a 7-6 win over defending state champion Gardiner and a 5-2 decision last Friday over a Waterville team that entered the contest undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Eastern Maine Class B.
Perhaps most notable about the first half of Rockland’s schedule is that beyond a 12-2 season-opening win over Belfast and a 17-12 outlasting of Winslow, the remaining six games all have been decided by three runs or less, with the Tigers 3-3 in those contests.
Matt Little leads the pitching staff at 3-0, with Meklin and Lucas Morrill among other top contributors on the mound. The batting order has been balanced, with Little, Meklin, Morrill, Anderson Murphy, Joe Nelsen, David Searle and David McGuire all coming up with key hits.
The Tigers return to action Wednesday at home against Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, then are idle until a road game at Medomak Valley of Waldoboro next Monday.
State singles tennis to start
Seeding meetings will be held at five locations around the state Wednesday evening for the annual state singles tennis tournament.
Play in the tourney begins with the regional singles qualifying round Saturday at the following locations: Region 1: University of Maine at Presque Isle; Region 2: University of Maine, Orono; Region 3: Buker Courts, Augusta (boys) and Mount Ararat School, Topsham (girls); Region 4: Lewiston High School; and Region 5: South Portland High School (boys) and Deering High School, Portland (girls).
From the qualifying round, five boys and girls players from Region 1, nine each from Region 2, seven boys and girls from both Regions 3 and 4 and 16 boys and girls from Region 5 will advance to the state Rounds of 44 and 32, to be held Friday, May 29, at Bates College in Lewiston.
The Round of 16 and quarterfinals follow the next day at Bates, with the semifinals and championship matches to be held on Monday, June 1.
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