He’s the team’s third leading scorer, but senior guard Eric Anderson of Merrimack has yet to start his first game this season for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men’s basketball team.

But on a 13-6 team that doesn’t have a single player averaging in double figures, the line between starter and non-starter in a pretty gray one.

“In a way I consider myself as part of the starting lineup,’’ Anderson said. “My role is to come into a close game and give my team an extra kick and provide some calm leadership.’’

Anderson’s extra kick was certainly evident in a recent conference game against Skidmore. He came off the bench to score 20 points in just 20 minutes, tying his career high while hitting 7-of-9 field goal attempts including 3-of-4 3-pointers.

On the season he’s averaging 6.9 points and shooting 39 percent on 3-pointers, 46 percent from the floor.

“I’m primarily a point guard, but I also play some shooting guard,’’ Anderson said. “In high school I was a point guard, but more of a scoring point guard.’’

Anderson needed to be. It was the years after Corey Hassan graduated and two years after Merrimack’s second of back-to-back Class L titles.

But the Tomahawks, led by Anderson and others who had seen little action the year before, surprised everyone by reaching the Class L finals.

“It was a surprise to everyone but us,’’ Anderson said, “because we had been successful at the freshman and junior varsity levels.’’

Like his high school career, Anderson had to wait his turn at RPI. He saw action in seven games and played a total of 18 minutes as a freshman. He got in just two games as a junior.

But Anderson stuck with it and broke through as a junior, appearing in all 28 games last season when RPI used a late-season run to reach the NCAA Tournament. He had 20 points in a late-season game against conference rival St. Lawrence.

Anderson is the next in a run of area players who have been part of the basketball program at the Troy, N.Y., school. Tom Schneider, a Bishop Guertin graduate, was conference player of the year four years ago as a senior and scored over 1,000 points at RPI.

The current roster includes junior Mike Brion, another BG graduate, and freshman guard Tom Zajac of Merrimack, the Cardinals floor general last year.

Brion recently had a career-high 20 points and added seven rebounds in a game against Union. On the season, he’s averaging 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds.

Hassan is on fire

Sacred Heart University senior Corey Hassan of Merrimack is going out with a bang.

Hassan not only leads his team in scoring at 20.6 points per game, but leads the entire Northeast Conference. Hassan also leads his team in rebounding with 8.0 a game, which is third best in the conference, while also leading the nation in 3-pointers made at 3.6 per game. He is currently tied for 22nd in scoring average.

After scoring his 1,000th career point at Sacred Heart early in a game against Mount St. Mary’s on Jan. 28, Hassan exploded for 36 points two nights later against Wagner, hitting 10-of-12 shots from 3-point range.

Before transferring to Sacred Heart, Hassan scored 332 points as a freshman starter at Boston University and was named to the America East Conference All-Rookie team.

O’Kane honored

Assumption College sophomore hockey player Pat O’Kane of Hollis, who leads the Northeast-10 Conference in scoring with 25 goals and 12 assists in 21 games, was named as one of 16 semifinalists for the Joe Concannon Award.

The award is presented to the top American born player in New England Division II and Division III college hockey.

So far this season O’Kane has been Northeast-10 Player of the Week three times. Besides goals scored, O’Kane, a Bishop Guertin graduate, also leads the conference in power-play and short-handed goals with 11 and four, respectively.

Barbiasz inches higher

University of Maryland sophomore high jumper Dwight Barbiasz of Milford just keeps getting better.

Currently ranked second in the nation among collegiate high jumpers, he jumped 7 feet, 31?4 inches, a personal best, at the Virginia Tech Elite Indoor Meet last weekend.

Two weeks earlier, Barbiasz was the Atlantic Coast Conference Athlete of the Week when he jumped a then personal best 7-1?4 in the Terrapin Invitational.