ORONO, Maine — There is likely to be some German spoken in and around Memorial Gymnasium during the next couple of years.
The University of Maine men’s basketball program landed its second German recruit in a week Friday when Jonathan Mesghna signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Black Bears starting in the fall.
Chances are Mesghna, who hails from Frankfurt, won’t have many issues with language. He has spent the last two seasons playing in the United States.
“He is a tremendous signing for us,” said UMaine head coach Ted Woodward, who last week announced the addition of Germany’s Till Gloger, a 6-foot-8 forward.
“He’s (Mesghna) been our primary junior college guy all the way through,” Woodward added. “We targeted him even a year ago.”
Mesghna is a 6-6, 205-pound forward whose experience will provide the Black Bears with instant maturity. He is attending the North Dakota State College of Science after spending 2010-11 at Wyoming State College.
The 24-year-old ranked second on the NDSCS team with 13.3 points per game and led the Wildcats with 8.1 rebounds per game. He shot 48 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from long range.
Mesghna also shot 83.5 percent from the foul line, leading NDSCS to conference and regional championships. He was a first-team all-conference choice for the Wildcats, who ended the season ranked No. 11 in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
“I think he’s got a complete game, a very mature game,” Woodward said. “He understands how to play to his strengths and because of his size and his skill set, he’s got a lot of versatility.”
Woodward is hopeful Mesghna can be the next in a line of productive junior-college players at UMaine, where Raheem Singleton, Terrance Mitchell, Errick Greene and Eric Dobson have all excelled.
“We’ve had a lot of success in the past with junior-college guys,” said Woodward, who pointed out Mesghna’s academic success and campus involvement as testaments to his maturity.
“He’ll be able to provide a whole bunch of things on and off the court,” he said. “He was an RA (resident assistant in a dormitory) and is a great student.”
The UMaine roster continues to feature a large contingent of foreign players. The Bears have two Canadians, two Germans and players from Scotland, Israel, Finland and Serbia.
Mesghna’s participation at UMaine is contingent upon admission to the university and compliance with NCAA initial-eligibility guidelines.
Douglas Leichner continues to identify, recruit and deliver the best talent to Maine that many of us have not seen in years, if ever!. His effort and commitment to improving the University of Maine’s Men’s basketball program has not gone unnoticed by the remaining few fans of the program. For the limited number of remaining diehards who still have hope of a miracle turn arround of this program we have adopted an in-group expression of “In Leichner We Trust”. If Steve Abbott truly wants to maximize and build on Leichner’s efforts and the programs future then he should make an immediate change in the programs direction by putting Coach Leichner in charge of the Bears. Go Maine!
When are these foreign players going to pay some dividends? 11 wins and 1 & done EVERY season doesn’t scream the word “Trust”, more like horrid ROI.
The only way to justify giving scholarships to international players is if u get something in return, which has been absolutely ZERO so far !
This kid isn’t going to change the fact that UMO has NEVER won a conf title. Cim could win 11 games with a bunch of Mainers who would stay in Maine and contribute to Maine’s economy.
Put up or shut up with these international players.
Guy is 24. Holy Pringles Batman. I could have been a playa by the time I was 24… would have been all over at 26, but I’m just sayin…seems a little old.