BANGOR – The University of Maine at Machias hasn’t exactly distinguished itself as a basketball powerhouse over the last few years, but that could change if a recent rash of success starts to spread.

First-year coach Randy Lee has a diverse group of players from all over the country and the world coming together, and it shows on the court, on the bench and in the locker room.

“Since my arrival here, everybody’s just bought into winning now,” said Lee. “Winning helps those things, but the other thing is all the guys are focused on one goal.”

The Clippers are 8-6 and coming off a breakthrough effort at the 38th Paul Bunyan Invitational in Bangor. They got a big green-and-white monkey off their backs when they defeated perennial NAIA power Husson College for the first time in 10 years – on the Braves’ home court. The Clippers then beat Fisher College of Boston for their second tournament championship this season.

“It was a great weekend,” Lee said. “Learning how to win takes time and we’re very young, but we’re getting to know each other on the court and we’ve played a pretty tough schedule so far.”

The Clippers opened their season against Canadian teams like the University of New Brunswick, which beat UMM by nine points and lost to Division I Maine by three.

What’s remarkable is that this UMM team is on the verge of fast-breaking its way into the Sunrise Conference elite level with a roster marked more by differences than similarities.

Of the 14 players on the roster, only one – junior guard Robi Socoby of Princeton – hails from Maine. In fact, only five are from the United States. Six players come from Canada, two from England and one from Bosnia. Of the stateside players suiting up with UMM jerseys, one comes from Pennsylvania, one from Kentucky, one from Hawaii, and one from Washington, D.C.

“It’s the most diverse group I’ve ever played with and I tell you, it’s a fun team to be on and it definitely feels good to have some help,” said Gary Dussard, who until this year, was the team’s first and sometimes only viable offensive option.

Dussard has had little trouble adjusting from star scorer to supporting player.

“I’ve been here for two years and for those years, I’ve basically been the main option, but we’ve been losing. So with winning, I’m gladly accepting my team role and I want everyone to share the ball,” said the 6-foot-3 guard-forward from Scarborough, Ontario.

Dussard’s help has arrived in the form of senior transfer guard Bayi Handy of York, Pa., and junior forward Wayne Clark of Markham, Ont.

“Bayi’s done a terrific job coming in and being a leader and Gary’s given up a lot of shots, and he’s rebounding and passing more,” said Lee. “He’s our unsung hero because he’s bought into being a team player and doing the little things.”

The 5-11 Handy committed to play for Lee at Delaware State University, but a coaching change changed his mind and he went to Hagerstown Junior College. From there, it was on to Georgia State and coaching icon Lefty Driesell.

“Things didn’t work out how I wanted them to, so I planned to go overseas to Hungary after playing at Georgia State a year,” said Handy. “It just kind of fell out that I came here. I didn’t know I was coming until Aug. 15, but I feel real good about this now.

“We have a great coach and a real good group of guys. I just want to provide leadership and get to the tournament. This is my home right now. It’s either here or nowhere.”

That basically sums up his teammates’ attitudes as well.

“We trust and like each other off the court and that carries over onto the court,” said Dussard, a junior psychology major, who says the team’s diversity is more help than hindrance.

“Ironically, it’s not hard because we seem to be more of a family off the court than on. I think it’s because we know we have to be close to succeed and let’s face it, in Machias, there’s not much to do so we usually do a lot together.”

And right now, winning is one of those things.