Jon Wallingford, a walk-on from Auburn, gradually made his work ethic and perimeter shooting touch an important element of the University of Maine men’s basketball team.

Now a senior, Wallingford has received the ultimate demonstration of respect from head coach John Giannini and his Maine teammates. Wallingford has been named one of the Black Bears’ tri-captains for the 2003-04 campaign.

The honor comes near the end of the fall semester and five games into the season.

“We intentionally wanted to go through the early part of the season before naming captains,” said Giannini. “We wanted to see leadership qualities before deciding on captains.”

Maine (4-1) ultimately gave the nod to three of its four seniors, also choosing Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov of Bulgaria and Eric Dobson of Immokalee, Fla.

“We are pleased with the whole team, but especially pleased with the seniors and their success and leadership,” Giannini said. “All three are on track to graduate and have represented us well both on and off the court.”

Given no hoop guarantees before he walked on campus as a freshman, Wallingford is averaging 16.5 minutes per game for the Black Bears after three tough seasons.

Wallingford, 23, served as a practice player as a freshman, broke his left wrist his sophomore year and as a junior was ineligible until February.

“Jon embodies a true commitment to the team concept,” said Giannini. “He has worked extremely hard the past three years and has been a very unselfish player in practice.”

The smallest player on the Maine roster at 5-foot-11, 168 pounds, Wallingford has adapted his abilities as a pure shooter to the Division I level.

He has hit 87.5 percent of his free throws and his 5-for-12 from 3-point range, the second-best percentage among Maine players who have attempted at least 10 field goals from beyond the arc.

Wallingford has played in four of Maine’s first five games. He scored a career-high 12 points against the University of New England and sank two free throws in the final minute of a win over Harvard.

“This season when we have needed him to contribute more, he has done an impressive job,” Giannini said.

After a senior season in which he sank an EL record 12 3-pointers in a victory over Lewiston, Wallingford elected to turn down a possible Division III playing career and enrolled in Maine’s chemical engineering program.

He is the son of Peter and Denise Wallingford.

“Jon has the confidence, experience and toughness to help us in any game that we need him,” said Giannini.

Hadjisotirov, a transfer from Boston College, has played in only two games after suffereing a knee injury against Bethune-Cookman. He has averaged 5.5 points per game in two seasons.

Dobson has started all five games for Maine. His average of 7.2 assists per game leads America East and is tied for 11th in the country.

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