By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

Points are a universal language in basketball, regardless of level.

If you’re Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points for the Los Angeles Lakers or Kaleb Violette lighting it up for 50 while averaging almost 40 in a five-game stretch at Central Maine Community College, you will draw your share of double-takes from far and wide.

“I have major college coaches calling and e-mailing, just from seeing the numbers in the press release,” said CMCC men’s basketball coach and athletic director Dave Gonyea.

Those digits are staggering. Violette, just named USCAA Division II Player of the Week for the second time this winter, checks in at 38.4 points and 15.8 rebounds per game over his last five starts.

Violette, who hails from Readfield and played at Maranacook as a home-schooled student, smashed the single-game CMCC record with 50 points against Eastern Maine Community College.

He put together 38 points and 21 rebounds in a game at Hesser College and riddled the University of Maine at Augusta to the tune of 43 points and 18 boards.

Gonyea isn’t sure of Violette’s aspirations beyond his sophomore season in Auburn, but he predicts that the 6-foot-5 swingman with a point guard’s ball-handling skills and a center’s post moves could make his mark with an NCAA Division I or II program.

The coach said that Violette has expressed some interest in attending Division II Bryant College in Rhode Island. Bryant is coached by former Maine Central Institute prep school program architect Max Good.

“I think he’s good enough,” Gonyea said.

“He’s got a great first step to the basket. He has long arms, great wing span, and the kid has great body control. When he gets inside, he’s hard to block, because he figures out a way to get the ball over, under or around you.”

Admittedly, Violette’s numbers benefit slightly from what is a “down” year for the 2001 small-school national champions.

While most teams would be thrilled to have the Mustangs’ 15-8 mark, CMCC is down to eight players due to academic casualties.

“I’m not trying to find any more players. I’m going to go with what I’ve got,” Gonyea said. “I think we’ll be tough at the end of the season, and it’s going to be a great recruiting year.”

Rated rookie

Another Maranacook product, Toby Martin of Wayne, has brought her winning ways to Thomas College. The explosive, 5-foot-3 freshman walked away with her second straight North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Week recognition after leading the Terriers to two conference triumphs.

Martin averaged 19 points against Castleton State and Johnson State. She ranks 23rd in the nation in NCAA Division III at 19.4 points per game.

Also surfacing among the NCAA leaders is junior Kim Drosdik of Farmington (Mt. Blue). Drosdik is sinking 3.2 3-pointers per game, ninth in the country.

Senior achievement

Plymouth State College wrestling co-captain Nick Gurney of Dixfield (Dirigo) has saved his best for last. The senior has won a career-high 18 matches against eight defeats at 184 pounds.

Gurney captured the championship in his classification at the Plymouth State Invitational on Jan. 14. He scored two pins last weekend at a quadrangular meet with MIT, Bridgewater State and Norwich and is gearing up for the New England Championships on Feb. 18-19.

Sad note

Tragedy struck the Bowdoin College campus last week when field hockey All-American Taryn King, 21, of Georgetown, Mass., died Thursday of an unknown illness while studying abroad in Ireland.

King scored eight goals and nine assists last fall in leading Bowdoin to the NCAA Division III final four. She was New England Small College Athletic Conference Player of the Year. She was also one of the school’s top lacrosse players, scoring 18 goals last spring and ushering the Polar Bears to an NCAA regional final.

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