Danny Midgley would love another chance to run out for the Brighton Bears.

Midgley, a bit-part player in Mark Dunning's class of 2000/01, is polishing his skills in the United States.

The 21-year-old is in the second of four years at the University of Maine at Machias (UMM) on the east coast, where is competing for a starting spot and not finding it too hard to concentrate on his basketball.

He admitted: "Machias is in the middle of nowhere, so all we do is shoot, practice, lift weights and chill.

"It's perfect for me. I'm doing very well in school and there are no distractions of clubs and bars, so I stay focussed on what is important to me, namely basketball.

"I want to put on 10-20lb before the summer, which is realistic as I am now 6ft.6ins and 190lb."

Midgley, who comes from Burgess Hill, is studying for a business degree, specialising in marketing and management.

His basketball suffered a setback this week when he lost his starting spot with the UMM Clippers.

He said: "We won both our games in the last five days. We beat St. Joe's from Vermont 101-53. I only had six points, but it was a good team performance.

"Then we played Farmington from Maine and beat them by 74-68. Again I had six points but seven rebounds in 15 minutes.

"I have lost my starting spot to my team mate, but I intend to get it back because when you start you obviously play more."

Long term, the future looks like meaning a trip back across the Atlantic . He said: "My personal goals are to stay here all four years and keep improving.

"I have worked on my three-point shooting and ball handing a lot as well as my post moves.

"My vertical jump has improved by a couple of inches, so as long as I keep improving then I'm happy. I hope to come back to the UK or Europe after I graduate from here.

"I would like to play for the Bears again. I really enjoyed my season there and learnt a lot about the game, but I would like to get paid for playing a sport I love and would go anywhere in the world to do it."

Richard Midgley is still starting for Cal Golden Bears, who have won all four Pac-10 games to date.

He scored 12 points in a 77-66 defeat of Washington in Seattle.

Midgley connected with his only three-point attempt and went two-of-three from closer in, topped off with five-of-six free throw shooting in 24 minutes on court.

Andy Smith had a good night for Kerr Vance Academy as they improved to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the Coastal Plains Independent Conference.

Spartans thrashed Faith Christian 83-51 with Smith collecting 34 points, seven rebounds and seven steals.