Davidson doesn’t pass up on Barr

Bryant Barr, a 6-foot-4 senior shooting guard from Falmouth High School, has verbally committed to accept a full basketball scholarship from Davidson College in North Carolina beginning in 2006-07.

Barr, a third-team Bangor Daily News All-Maine selection last season, becomes the third member of Maine’s schoolboy basketball Class of 2006 to accept a Division I basketball scholarship. Hampden Academy’s Jordan Cook and Cheverus of Portland’s Sean Costigan recently made verbal commitments to attend the University of Maine.

Barr averaged 22.5 points, 4.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game to lead Falmouth to a berth in the 2005 Western Maine Class B final.

Barr chose Davidson from a final list of schools that also included Maine, Brown, Yale and Cornell. Maine, Fairfield, High Point (N.C.), the University at Albany and Davidson all offered Barr a scholarship.

Barr said once he heard of Cook and Costigan’s decisions to attend Maine he considered joining them on the Orono campus, “but Davidson was the best fit for me.”

Davidson went 23-9 last winter, going undefeated during the Southern Conference regular season and reaching the third round of the NIT before being eliminated by Maryland.

Davidson will graduate seven players off its 2005-06 team, including five guards.

“Four of the guys graduating play the position I’ll most likely be playing,” said Barr. “Coach [Bob] McKillop told me I’ll be coming in at a good time. There’s a good chance of coming in as a freshman and getting minutes if I continue to work hard.”

McKillop can’t comment on Barr’s decision until he signs an National Letter of Intent accepting the scholarship. The early signing period for basketball begins in November.

Skowhegan to run shuttle buses

The Skowhegan High football team begins its home-away-from-home schedule Saturday night when the Indians host Oxford Hills of South Paris at Madison High School.

All four of Skowhegan’s regular-season home games will be played at Madison this year as Reginald Clark Memorial Field in Skowhegan is being upgraded.

One major concern regarding the move of the games to Madison is the availability of sufficient parking at the school, according to Skowhegan athletic director Terry Michaud.

As a result SAD 54 will run a shuttle bus between the Madison Electric Co. – about two-tenths of a mile from the field – and Madison High before and after each home game

Michaud encourages anyone who plans to attend Saturday’s game as well as other Skowhegan home games this fall to take advantage of the shuttle bus and park at the Madison Electric Co. parking lot. Shuttle bus runs will begin at 5:15 p.m., and tickets for the game will go on sale at 5:30.