Former Portland High star Terion Moss will play basketball for the University of New Haven next season, according to his former club coach.
“That’s a done deal,” said Robert Pilsbury, the director of basketball operations for Blue Wave Basketball. Pilsbury has coached and mentored Moss since he was in middle school. “I talked to (New Haven) Coach (Ted) Hotaling and Terion got his transcripts over there and he’s all set to play as an incoming sophomore at New Haven.”
Moss, a 5-foot-10 point guard and the 2018 Mr. Maine Basketball winner, transferred to the Division II school in Connecticut after spending his freshman year at the University of Maine.
Dan Ruede, the associate director of athletics for strategic communications at New Haven, said he could not confirm Moss’ transfer but did know that an offer of financial aid had been drafted for him.
Hotaling did not return phone and text messages. Previous working phone numbers for Moss are no longer in service.
Moss was an immediate contributor as a freshman at UMaine. He started 15 games and averaged 27 minutes of playing time in 29 games, missing three games because of injury. But after the school year ended there was an apparent separation between Moss and the men’s basketball team. His name was removed from the team’s website. University officials said in June that Moss was “not currently” with the team.
Pilsbury said Moss had a strong relationship with Maine Coach Richard Barron and his staff.
“He actually loved the coaching staff up at Maine,” Pilsbury said. “It was hard to leave but at the end of the day he thought he’d be better served at a lower level and going farther in tournaments and being more productive.”
New Haven was 21-10 last season, advancing to the Northeast-10 Conference championship game, where it lost to Merrimack. It earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament, winning one game before being eliminated. In Hotaling’s nine-year tenure, New Haven has won six conference championships.
Maine was 5-27 last year, Barron’s first as men’s coach.
New Haven actively recruited Moss when he was starring for Portland High, where he was the 2018 Varsity Maine Player of the Year and just the third player in Portland history to crack 1,000 career points.
At UMaine, Moss averaged 5.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. In high school he was a constant threat to drive the lane and create shots for himself and others. With the Black Bears, 111 of his 165 shots were 3-point attempts. Moss shot 31.5 percent overall, 27.0 percent on 3-pointers.
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