ORONO – With notice coming from America East that two-time AE rookie of the week Philippe Tchekane Bofia would have to sit out a second straight game for a flagrant foul and subsequent ejection from last Saturday’s game in Albany, N.Y., University of Maine men’s basketball coach Ted Woodward also got some rare good news Friday.

Former Valley of Bingham star Brian Andre announced his transfer from the University of Buffalo and will be eligible to start play at Maine after the 2006 fall semester.

The 6-foot-9, 300-pound power forward, who played in 35 games during two seasons at Buffalo, has started practicing with the Bears.

“I recruited Brian when he was at Valley and have been able to follow his career since,” Woodward said in a press release. “I think Brian has tremendous size and potential to be a very good basketball player in our program and we look forward to his continued development with us.”

Tchekane Bofia, who is the team’s third-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game and top rebounder at 5.9 per game, was given the NCAA-mandated one-game suspension for his ejection, but AE commissioner and former UMaine athletic director Patrick Nero tacked a second game onto his suspension. That follows precedents set in similar situations involving Northeastern star guard Marcus Barnes and Binghamton University’s Alex Adediran, according to AE associate commissioner Matt Bourque.

The Black Bears, who are currently 5-10 overall and 0-4 in AE play, received more bad news this week when star guard and All-AE preseason first team pick Kevin Reed was officially red-shirted, meaning he will miss this entire season.