Husson seeking identity offensively Eagles’ returnees look to fill scoring voids

BANGOR – Replacing three-fifths of your starting lineup is difficult enough, but when those three departed starters are your top three scorers and represent 55 percent of your total offense last season, you have your work cut out for you.

Such is the challenge for Husson College men’s basketball coach Warren Caruso, who also lost three of his top four rebounders and two unquestioned team leaders who were both four-year starters and 1,000-point career scorers.

“I think you could say in some ways we’re a team without an identity,” said Caruso, now in his 14th season. “We know what we want to accomplish and we have a plan, but roles haven’t been established yet and guys are still trying to figure out where they fit.

The only returning players with any substantial starting experience are junior forward Scott Kissinger (26 starts), sophomore guard Brock Bradford (15) of Kenduskeag, and junior guard Blaine Meehan (11) of Hampden.

“Someone looking at our roster from the outside might not be that excited about it, but we know these guys even if they don’t have a lot of starts between them,” Caruso said.

Fifth-year senior Nick Henry is one of those guys. The 6-foot-3 forward from Penobscot started just two games last season, but played in all 28, averaging 15.6 minutes – seventh highest for the Eagles, who finished 22-6.

“It’s a good feeling to have a lot of experience, but it’s also good that all those freshmen we had are sophomores this year,” said Henry, referring to a bumper crop of 10 freshmen last year. “So our maturity is higher. And there aren’t as many issues or little things. Guys are on time to practice and everyone knows what it takes to win in this league.”

Nine of those 10 freshmen are back. The exception is North Atlantic Conference rookie of the year Martin Cleveland of Portland. Husson’s top scorer, top shot blocker, and No. 2 rebounder took his 15.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game to the NCAA Division II level for a full athletic scholarship from Franklin Pierce College.

“Really, it was a perfect fit for him here, but the chance to get a full scholarship and play at a higher level was something he couldn’t pass up,” Caruso said. “Certainly losing Marty is a disappointment, but this was a decision he had to make and we still return a lot of talent.”

Cleveland’s loss, along with senior all-conference first team picks Jason Harvey and Tyler Muzzy leave a big void, but Husson is not lacking talent to fill that void, but the talent will have to do so in a different way.

“This is as good a shooting team as we’ve had in my tenure,” said Caruso. “We’re going to have four players on the floor who are legitimate 3-point threats and that changes us a little bit where we’ve been interior-oriented and now more perimeter oriented.”

That means the Eagles will also be more fast break offense and pressure defense oriented.

“We really don’t have guys who can take people one on one in a halfcourt game, so we’re better off if we can get layups and open 3’s by controlling the tempo,” said Henry.

Husson’s starting five, at least early on, will include Bradford, Kissinger, senior guard Sheraud Lee, junior point guard Fabian Figueroa, and either senior forward-center Devan Philbrick of Corinth or sophomore forward Matt MacKenzie of Warren.

“It’s a big jump, chemistry-wise. Instead of a lot of talent, we have a lot of character guys,” Lee said. “We’re not going to rely so much on two or three guys. It’ll be a team effort.

“Defensively, we don’t have a shot blocker, but we do have guys capable of playing the position and we can make up for that with good team defense.”

Other players who should get regular minutes are junior guard Nick Perras, junior guard Blaine Meehan of Hampden, and Henry.

“We’re really excited to play,” Caruso said. “I’d be really disappointed if we had to go through some growing pains. We have some experience and talent and a lot of confidence in this group coming back.”