BURLINGTON, Vt. – Former Westbrook High School star player Jason Hight, a freshman walk-on for the University of Maine men’s basketball team, has come of age in a hurry.

Due to a rash of injuries to UMaine’s backcourt, the 6-foot-3, 176-pound guard has been pressed into service a lot sooner than he or his coaches expected him to, but he has responded incredibly well.

Hight, who will turn 20 on Jan. 16, didn’t play a single minute in the first seven regular season games but has averaged 11.6 minutes in the last six games. He’s also seen his game time rise from two minutes to a season-high 27 on Saturday against America East’s two-time defending champion.

Hight, who played one season of postgraduate ball for coach Whit Lesure at Bridgton Academy before coming to Maine, distinguished himself by playing the point for the Bears for much of his time on the court against Vermont and guarding one of the conference’s top scoring guards: T.J. Sorrentine.

“I really credit Jason a lot in this game. For him to do what he did as a freshman in this situation and environment really says a lot about him as a person and a competitor,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “He covered T.J. Sorrentine a majority of the game, settled us down offensively, and got the ball where it needed to go.

“I thought he did a tremendous job stepping into that situation.”

Teammates were equally impressed by the job the business major did against he Catamounts.

“Jay Hight has done incredible for us, having to step up,” said senior guard-forward Joe Campbell of Bangor. “Playing against T.J. Sorrentine is not an easy matchup and for him to come in and play the way he did, playing composed and running our offense, it was a great thing for him.”

The former NEWS All-Maine first-team selection will likely see increased time as Maine will be without Markwood, their starting point guard and top assist man, for the next three to five weeks.

Reed is just all right

Starting guard Kevin Reed, UMaine’s all-time career 3-point shooting leader and the team’s leading rebounder, was not in the starting lineup for the first time this season Saturday.

The junior from Yarmouth, Mass., who overtook Matt Rossignol at the top of the UM career 3-pointer leader board with 188, didn’t enter Saturday’s game until 8 minutes and 21 seconds had elapsed.

Reed, who Woodward has alluded to as having some undisclosed minor injuries the last couple weeks, made up for lost time with 13 points and three rebounds in 29 minutes.

“It’s just bumps and bruises,” said Reed, who showed no visible signs of discomfort or pain while playing. “I’m all right. There was no way I could just come out here and not dress. I couldn’t let them go to war without me. I couldn’t sit out a game like this.”

The 6-2 Reed is leading the team in rebounds for the second straight season with 7.4 per game. Reed was the leading rebounder among Division I players 6-2 or shorter in the country last season.

Brennan bidding bye-bye

Vermont coach Tom Brennan, who notched his 299th career win against Maine, collected No. 300 Monday night with a 78-68 decision over Dartmouth. The 55-year-old Brennan has announced he will retire after the current season – his 19th as the Catamounts head man and 24th overall as a collegiate head coach.

Even with the Catamounts’ recent run of success (two straight America East conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances), they are still 44-65 all-time against Maine and 18-25 against the Bears during Brennan’s tenure.