An already frustrating season took a turn for the worse for coach Michael Giorlando and the men’s basketball team – last in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with a 1-13 record (4-20 overall).

Wolfpack forward Mario Faranda, finance junior, will miss the rest of the season after sustaining a torn meniscus in his left knee during a Feb. 3 game against Dillard University.

“It’s a huge loss for us,” Giorlando said. “He’s one of our main offensive weapons, and he’s had huge performances.”

“He’s still deciding when he’ll have surgery,” Giorlando said.

Faranda, a native of Chiavari, Italy, scored a personal career and season high 27 points in losses to the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Xavier University earlier this season. He scored 19 points in the Wolfpack’s sole conference win over Southern University-New Orleans on Jan. 29, a 79-57 blowout when SUNO was first place in the GCAC.

Faranda had been leading the team in rebounds with 6.3 a game before the injury. He averaged 12.1 points a game, good enough to make him the team’s second best scorer behind guard Luke Zumo, psychology junior.

“It’s some adversity that our team will have to overcome. The whole team will have to step up to fill his shoes,” Giorlando said.

He added this will mean more playing time for general business junior Carter “Bear” Wurts, accounting senior Steven McGovern and political science junior David Curtin, all front court options off the bench.

Athletes for a Better World named Faranda a national semifinalist for its Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, “given to a collegiate and professional athlete who has made the greatest difference in the lives of others,” the press release reads.

The association rewarded Faranda for his work in relief efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

He attended St. Stanislaus in Gulfport, Miss., for high school.

Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at [email protected].