ORONO — Troy Barnies is halfway through his college basketball career at the University of Maine, but he already feels the sense of urgency of a senior.

“Being a junior, I know what I have to do now,” he said. “I’ve got two years left. It’s really my time to do things.”

So Barnies, the former Mr. Maine Basketball at Edward Little, focused on building his body and his intangibles. To the latter, he has vowed to take a more vocal leadership role in his junior year.

To the former, an emphasis on lifting and conditioning added 10 pounds to his lanky 6-foot-7 frame. At 215 pounds, he feels he’s better suited for mixing it up underneath the basket.

“I wanted to be a lot bigger this year at the power forward spot so I don’t get pushed around a lot,” he said. “I can use my strength as an advantage, along with my quickness.”

Defense was Barnies’ primary focus in 2008-09. After being limited by a wrist injury his freshman year, he played in all 30 of Maine’s games last season, starting 21. He averaged 7.7 points and 5 rebounds per game, but said his sophomore year was as much about learning his role as anything else. 

This year, he has designs on being a more well-rounded player. He has developed his low-post game to complement the perimeter game that allows him to take advantage of his athleticism against more plodding defenders.

“I’m going to be on the perimeter shooting. I’m going to be inside person. I’m going to stop every person I guard,” Barnies said. “Most of the time, I’m going to be guarding somebody bigger than me, so on the other end, I’m going to try to take advantage and use my quickness.”

Maine coach Ted Woodward lauded Barnies’ progress from a somewhat clumsy freshman to a tough match-up for many of his America East peers.

“His versatility is huge,” Woodward said. “His shooting has become tremendous. He does a great job now of spreading people out and shooting the basketball.”

“I think his versatility opens up the paint for me,” said junior forward/center Sean McNally of Gardiner, who is Maine’s second-leading returning scorer. “He’s really perfected his outside game. He’s a knock-down 3-point shooter that could easily play the “3” (small forward) position, but he’s in the paint, too.” 

Woodward hopes the chemistry between Barnies and McNally on the floor gives the Black Bears a tough inside-outside combination in the frontcourt.

That chemistry developed off the court, where the former KVAC rivals bonded almost immediately as freshmen. Now they share a home off campus.

“It’s really funny how that turned out, because we were big rivals in high school. Now, we’re like brothers,” Barnies said.

“Troy’s a great guy and he’s fun to be around. He’s always got energy,” McNally said. “That’s why we really clicked from the beginning. I’m more of a laid back guy and he’s more of the outgoing type.”

They may have contrasting personalities, but they’ve found they have much more in common. That includes the competitiveness that once drove them to beat each other in high school. Whether it’s talking trash over a video game or playing a little one-on-one at practice, Barnies and McNally each have one thing in mind.

It applies to the rest of their college careers, too.

“The only thing we talk about in the weight room, when we’re in the gym shooting around, when we’re at home, we always talk about winning,” Barnies said. “Now that we’ve got our experience, now that we’ve done what we had to do the past two years, now it’s about winning, because we’ve only got two years left.”

Edward Little graduate Troy Barnies.

University of Maine head men’s basketball coach Ted Woodward