ORONO – Three months ago, Brac Brady was thinking he’d be helping his brother coach high school basketball in the Sunshine State.

Tuesday night, he was pacing the sideline at Alfond Arena directing his University of Maine-Machias men’s basketball team in a regular-season game against the University of Maine.

If that wasn’t enough of a surprising turn of events, the NAIA Division II team he took over this season that was short on players, experience, and wins was holding its own against the Division I Black Bears.

The UMM Clippers not only stayed with the Bears for the first 22 minutes of the game, they held a brief lead.

“This is one for us to really grow on, I think,” said Brady, a Georgia native and longtime Florida resident who was named the head coach back in October two weeks into the preseason.

Brady, an alumnus of Palm Beach Atlantic University (Fla.), joined up late due to a coaching search that lagged a bit longer than UMM officials expected.

“We had to scramble for some players when I got here,” Brady said. “One’s a lifeguard and one’s a soccer player who hadn’t even played high school basketball.”

The team currently has nine players, only five of whom have any playing experience to speak of.

“We’re hopefully going to be picking up another player here for the next half of the season from Florida and we have another kid coming over from England, but I’m not sure how quickly he can play,” Brady said.

Late start and disadvantages aside, the Clippers are playing pretty well lately, something their 2-8 record doesn’t tell. Then again, three of UMM’s losses have come to two NCAA Division I programs and an NAIA Division III team ranked third in the nation.

“They’re a good group of kids who have learned things pretty quick, a lot quicker than I thought they would,” Brady said. “They missed some preseason work and conditioning, although a lot of them did it on their own. Still, it’s not the same as it would be with everyone in practice.”

Brady learned of the job opening from former UMM coach and friend Randy Lee, who resigned to become men’s basketball head coach at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Brady had been the coach at Manatee Community College in Bradenton, Fla., the last six seasons.

“I’m encouraged by how we’re doing so far and where we’ve come from. We’ve come a long way,” Brady said. “I got here in the middle of October and the first day of practice, I thought we’d be lucky to win one game. Now I feel like we’ve gotten ourselves to where we can compete in our conference.

“Given the circumstances, they’ve done outstanding.”

Eagles taking wing

Two months after seeing two former starters transfer to other schools, the Husson College Eagles have lost another veteran player who logged significant minutes.

Junior guard Bill Beauregard decided to transfer to fellow North Atlantic Conference member Elms College of Chicopee, Mass.

Husson head coach Warren Caruso said he thinks the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Ware, Mass., native – a starter during the 2003-04 season before missing most of the 2004-05 season with a foot injury – was dissatisfied with his game-time minutes.

“I think it was all playing time. Our conversations were usually about playing time, and I think it was probably the right decision for him at the time,” Caruso explained. “He was giving us anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes a game this season, but he thought this would be best for him, long-term.”

The speedy development of freshman guard Jordan Heath, who has started six of nine games this season, chipped away at Beauregard’s playing time.

“He’s been playing so well that it’s hard to keep him out of the lineup,” Caruso said of the former Bangor High starter.

Freshman guard and younger brother Rob Beauregard, who has played in three games this season, will remain on the team.

Husson will play Bill Beauregard’s new team in what looms as a big game Jan. 29 at Chicopee. Ironically, it will be the third game this month in which the Eagles will see a former teammate playing for the opposition.

“Our next two games are against USM with Andy Frost and Thomas College with Chad Gray, who was with us in preseason last year,” said Caruso before Wednesday night’s game against USM.

Also, Micah Grant of Winslow transferred from Husson to Gordon College in the preseason.

Beauregard’s transfer frees up some more playing time and that will be shared by the first four reserves off the bench.

“We were playing 10 guys, which is hard to do sometimes,” Caruso said. “We’re also moving Devan Philbrick up into the paint more and Scott Kissinger becomes more of an outside presence as a small forward. That actually kind of helps us as far as giving us more options with size.”

Leavitt joins the 1,000 club

Husson College senior center Buddy Leavitt has become the 32nd player in the program’s history to pass the 1,000-point mark for career scoring.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Guilford native needed 17 points to reach 1,000 heading into the Dec. 29 game against Colby College and finished with 26. He also had 12 points in the Maine Event tournament title game to help lead Husson to the win.

The former Piscataquis Pirates star is Husson’s leading scorer this season with 16.2 points per game. He’s also averaging 5.0 rebounds per game.

UMF women face No. 5 Bowdoin

The University of Maine-Farmington women’s basketball team will end its holiday break Thursday when it travels to Brunswick to take on Bowdoin College, ranked fifth in the country in NCAA Div. III.

Coach Jamie Beaudoin’s Beavers (5-1) have been idle since a Dec. 11 victory over the University of New England.

In the Polar Bears, UMF will be taking on its third nationally ranked opponent of the season. The Beavers already have faced Southern Maine of Gorham and Bates College of Lewiston.

UM-Farmington is riding a four-game winning streak, one that has featured outstanding play by junior forward Kari Simpson, who is averaging 18.7 points and 9.2 rebounds.

Bowdoin (9-1) will try to extend its Merrill Gymnasium winning streak to 60 games.