Brian Alexander plans to transfer

Former Southeast High basketball standout Brian Alexander had a highly successful season for the University of Maine at Machias finishing second in the nation in NAIA Division II in assists.

However the 5-8 guard, who has two years of eligibility left, said he is transferring and hopes to land at a school in Florida. He averaged 6.6 assists per game with a total of 171 and was sixth nationally in steals (2.8 per game).

Alexander said Mike Vazquez and Peter Mirinyi, who came to Machias with him from Southeast, are also leaving, though they will likely stay up north.

Alexander led Machias in minutes played per game (28.5), but says among other things he was not happy under the system used by head coach Brac Brady, who formerly coached at then Manatee Community College

“You get homesick and the weather up there is pretty cold,” Alexander said. “I also want to play under a different offense. I feel the system there is too restrictive and doesn’t allow me to reach my full potential as a player.


“The competition up there wasn’t bad, but it’s not like Florida. There is not a lot of height, but there are a lot of good shooters. We would get about 70 to 100 people in the gym, but they were real loud.”


Alexander said he would be looking at Webber International, an NAIA school in Babson Park. He also wants to see if there are some possibilities at some of the Division II schools in Florida such as Eckerd, Saint Leo and Florida Southern.


“I learned some things this year, like how to run an offense and did a better job of getting my teammates more involved,” Alexander said. “I also learned college basketball is a real business and at the end of the day you have to do what you have to do to make your organization better.”


Alexander graduated Southeast in 2007 where he started for three years and was the sixth man during his freshman season. He averaged 9.5 points per game this past season. Vazquez averaged 3.6 ppg in 14.6 minutes per game and Mirinyi averaged 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game.