Sam Leclerc knows a full-court press when he sees one.

So when Max Good, the former basketball coach at Maine Central Institute and current head coach at Bryant University, called the Winthrop star and told him he desperately needed a point guard, Leclerc knew that after several weeks of agonizing over his future, the time had come to make a decision.

Late Tuesday night, just a couple of days after making an official visit to the Smithfield, R.I., school, Leclerc called Good and told him he would accept a full scholarship to play basketball at Bryant.

“It was the best fit for me,” he said. “I had a great time (on the visit). The school is just awesome. The campus is unbelievable. The people were great to me.”

“Bryant University is well-known for its business program, and that’s what I want to be in,” he added. “I felt really comfortable with the coaches. I’ve been talking to them for awhile, and I have a really good relationship with them.”

The announcement won’t be official until Leclerc signs a National Letter of Intent, which he expects to do during the spring signing period that begins April 16.

Just three years ago, Bryant, with former Brunswick star Dan Hammond on the roster, reached the NCAA Division II championship game.

Next year, the Bulldogs will move up to Division I and will undergo a baptism by fire. Six of the first seven games on their schedule will be on the road against Connecticut, Boston College, Providence, Rutgers, Maryland and Iowa.

“They want to get right into it and start building a program down there, and it’s something that I want to be a part of,” Leclerc said. “I want to play against top-level talent as much as I can.”

Leclerc may get that chance as soon as he puts on a Bryant jersey.

Prior to this year, the Bulldogs red-shirted junior Orlando Baeza when he tore his ACL, in hopes that he would return to take the starting point-guard role next season. But Baeza tore his ACL again last week and will miss another year, Leclerc said. Good had already moved one of his wing players, sophomore Chris Birrell, to play the point this past season and told Leclerc he doesn’t want to do it again for the 2008-09 campaign.

“At this point, they don’t have a point guard, and they need a guy that can step in and play right away,” Leclerc said. “I’m ready for the challenge.

“I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the gym this summer. I probably won’t go a day without shooting a basketball from here on out,” he added. “I need to improve on my overall strength. Playing those schools, it’s going to be a whole different level of physicality. Driving in the lane this past year compared to driving in the lane and seeing Hasheem Thabeet from UConn, (who is) 7-foot-3, I mean, that’s going to be a little different.”

The 6-foot-1 Leclerc was a four-year starter at Winthrop, leading the Ramblers to the Western C championship in 2006 and and the state title this year. He averaged 20.7 ppg while being named the Mountain Valley Conference’s Player of the Year. He surpassed the 1,000-career point milestone and was a Mr. Maine Basketball finalist.

Leclerc had also been considering Maine, New Hampshire, Boston University, Northeastern, Columbia, Central Connecticut or prep school.

“I wasn’t (weighing) Bryant against another school so much. I was more worried about getting accepted into a prep school so that I could play AAU this summer,” said Leclerc, who helped lead the MBR boys AAU basketball team to an 11th-place finish at last year’s junior boys/17u AAU National Championship.

“It was an extremely tough decision,” he added. “I’d been going back-and-forth on it for quite a while. Over the last week-and-a-half, I absolutely could not stop thinking about it. I told my dad I was bipolar about it. One hour I’d be ‘All right, I’m not (going),’ and then the next hour I’d be ‘OK, sign me up.’ I think I came to the right conclusion.”