The pipeline from Maine high schools to the Bentley University men’s basketball program continues to be active.
According to a report on newenglandrecruitingreport.com, former Hodgdon High School star Chris Hudson has accepted a scholarship offer to attend Bentley — an NCAA Division II program in Waltham, Massachusetts — beginning this fall.
The 6-foot-6 forward, currently a senior at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, this past winter helped that team win its second straight New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class A championship.
He subsequently was named a second-team NEPSAC Class A all-star for his contributions to Williston’s 22-5 season.
Those back-to-back prep titles came after Hudson earned Bangor Daily News All-Maine third-team recognition as a high school junior, when he averaged 24 points and 16 rebounds per game to lead the Hawks to the 2014 Class D state championship.
The left-hander went on to play the following summer for a Maine Athletic Club 17-and-under AAU team coached by Carl Parker that finished 11th among 99 teams at the AAU Division I 11th-Grade National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
Hudson then transferred to Williston Northampton, enrolling as a high school junior under a practice commonly used by New England prep schools known as “reclassifying,” in which transferring students repeat a year of high school before embarking on their senior year in order to become better prepared for college life.
He will graduate from Williston Northampton in June.
Hudson will join a Bentley program that finished 21-9 and qualified for the NCAA Division II championship tournament last winter with a roster that included six Maine high school products — a group led by All-American forward Tyler McFarland of Rockport and Camden Hills Regional High School, fellow Academic-All American Keegan Hyland of South Portland and Andrew Furness of Wells.
McFarland concluded his career as the leading career scorer in Bentley history and along with Hyland and Furness were the team’s top three scorers this past season.
Among the Maine products expected to return to coach Jay Lawson’s club next season are the state’s 2015 Mr. Basketball Kyle Bouchard of Houlton and 2014 Gatorade Maine Player of the Year Zach Gilpin of Hampden Academy. Both will be sophomores with the Falcons.
The Maine-to-Bentley pipeline began after Charlie Wootton, a 6-8 center, led Camden-Rockport High School to the 1974 Class B state championship before starting for three years at Bentley, where he was a two-time All-New England and All-American honoree. Wootton will be inducted in the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in August.
Bentley’s more recent Maine standouts include 1997 Mr. Maine Basketball Mike Mastropaolo of Falmouth, Jeff Holmes of Cheverus of Portland, Sam Leclerc of Winthrop and Andrew Shaw of Thornton Academy in Saco.
