ORONO, Maine — Ryan Bernstein, a nonscholarship guard who led the shorthanded University of Maine men’s basketball team in starts and minutes played this season, has decided to leave the school at the end of the spring semester.
The 6-foot sophomore from The Bronx, New York, made his transfer plans public in a Twitter post late Monday afternoon.
“Would like to thank the University of Maine for the past two years they’ve given me but I have decided to go to a new school next semester!” he wrote.
Bernstein started 29 of UMaine’s 32 games last winter, averaging 4.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest while while shooting 33 percent from the field, 27 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 54 percent from the free-throw line.
He averaged 26.8 minutes per contest — third most for the Black Bears — and played a team-high 856 minutes during the 2016-17 season.
“Obviously he was a walk-on, and he was struggling to pay for school and he expressed that to me that paying for school was becoming harder and harder,” said University of Maine men’s basketball coach Bob Walsh. “He wants a scholarship so he’s making the move hoping to get a scholarship and we wish him the best.”
The 20-year-old Bernstein was expected to see time as a reserve point guard this season but his minutes increased markedly when junior guard and tri-captain Aaron Calixte suffered a foot fracture during a pre-Thanksgiving practice and played in just five games before undergoing surgery and being sidelined for the remainder of the winter.
Bernstein shot 4-for-8 from the 3-point line to share the team scoring lead during a 12-point, seven-rebound performance in UMaine’s 55-53 nonconference victory over Holy Cross last Dec. 7.
He also scored 12 points to go with five assists and five rebounds during the Black Bears’ 90-77 loss to eventual conference champion Vermont on Jan. 7.
“He played extremely hard every day and was able to contribute,” said Walsh. “He took advantage of his opportunity.”
“We were not able to offer him a scholarship at this point,” Walsh added. “It’s that simple.”
Bernstein played in 24 games (five starts) as a freshman for UMaine during the 2015-2016 season. He scored a career-high 13 points against Dartmouth and had 11 points against Army and 10 points against both Marquette and Quinnipiac.
Bernstein came to UMaine as a nonscholarship player after a year at Marianapolis Preparatory School in Thompson, Connecticut. That followed his high school career at Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains, New York, where as a senior he averaged 18.1 points and 6.0 assists per game.
UMaine finished the 2016-2017 campaign with a 7-25 record. Five players transferred out of the program after the 2015-2016 season, then the Black Bears played further shorthanded throughout last winter in the aftermath of season-ending injuries suffered before the season began or early in the schedule by Calixte, senior captain Garet Beal, senior guard Troy Reid-Knight and junior guard Ilker Er.
