BANGOR, Maine — Ryan Bernstein is the embodiment of what coach Bob Walsh wants to see out of his University of Maine basketball team.
The 6-foot freshman from Bronx, New York, is a tireless worker and relentless hustler — regardless of the score or the time of the game. He exhibited those qualities on Wednesday night during the Black Bears’ 79-69 loss to Dartmouth at the Cross Insurance Center.
Bernstein tried to set the tone for his teammates against the Big Green. The point guard achieved career highs of 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists, along with a steal.
He played a career-high 32 minutes, even as UMaine applied 2-2-1 full-court pressure most of the evening.
“He’s the toughest kid we’ve got; competes without fear,” Walsh said. “I wrote his [statistical] lineup on the board, and I asked the guys to go home and look in the mirror and figure out why Ryan was capable of that line.”
Bernstein said the performance was a function of his desire to help the team.
“I just tried to give as much as I could to my team because I do it every day in practice and they do it as well,” he said. “So I just brought the energy that we have in practice to the game, just competed the whole time, no matter what the score was.”
That commitment helps Bernstein, who is a nonscholarship player, demonstrate such a desire to prove himself.
“Ever since I’ve been younger, I’ve been playing with a chip on my shoulder,” he said.
“I just try to go out there, try to prove to everyone that I can play just as well as everyone else,” he added.
No other Black Bear played more than 24 minutes against Dartmouth, but Walsh said the team needed Bernstein on the floor.
“I looked at him in the second half, and he was tired because he was playing his tail off, and I said, ‘You’re not coming out, so deal with it.’ He was fine,” Walsh said.
Walsh said the fact Bernstein has already earned a significant role on the UMaine ballclub is a reflection of the effort the coach has seen ever since he started recruiting him.
“It’s the chip on the shoulder that we [all] need to play with,” Walsh said. “I don’t feel like we have it as a group, and it’s my responsibility to get it out of them.”
Through eight games, Bernstein is averaging 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and one steal in 18.9 minutes per outing. He has scored in double figures three straight games, averaging 11.3 ppg during that stretch.
Bernstein is known to his family and friends simply as “Boz,” a nickname he received as a child from a friend of his mother, Annie.
“It sounds weird when I hear, ‘Ryan Bernstein checking into the game,’” he said.
“You might have to legally change it,” Walsh quipped.