It’s a wonder – some say a miracle – former McDonald’s All-American Brandon Cotton was able to play basketball at all last season at University of Detroit Mercy.

The 6-foot, 170-pound Cotton had his left (non-shooting) hand seriously damaged in a June 2005 automobile accident, just months before the start of his sophomore campaign.

“The second I looked at my hand, I said my basketball career is over,” Cotton told the Detroit News. “I was devastated and in a state of shock. I went home and cried, thinking I’d never be the same player again.”

There was no need for the tears.

Cotton, who averaged 18.8 points a game his first season at Detroit after transferring from Michigan State, healed enough to be ready for opening day of the 2005-06 season. Playing with pins in his fingers and in intense pain – the tip of his middle finger was amputated – Cotton averaged 17.5 points and 2.0 assists per contest and earned first-team all-Horizon League honors.

He takes a 15.7 scoring average into today’s 7 p.m. nonconference clash at Kansas University.

“My life has not been easy,” said the former Detroit DePorres High standout, who decided to leave Michigan State in Jan. of 2004 after suffering a stress fracture in his foot and playing just 16 minutes in a first semester’s worth of games his freshman season.

“I’ve had to have faith in God and faith in myself that I could overcome,” added Cotton, who also had personal problems at the time of the transfer. “I stayed strong. If you are not strong in this world, you will not survive long. I had to fight and grind my way through things.”

Cotton, who has made 47.2 percent of his shots, including 15 of 35 threes (.429), truly was in bad shape after the accident. His blind-sided car did a total flip.

Cotton’s hand was caught outside the broken window.

“The (index, middle and ring) fingers were cut open, like really cut to the bone,” Cotton told CSTV.com.

“My middle finger, they had to cut the tip off because it was so messed up. I had several stitches and a pin to hold them together. I had pins in my fingers for about eight weeks.”

He had one scare since the accident, missing two games last season after having his hand smacked in a game against Loyola.

“I was scared. It was like, ‘Oh man, one shot can injure it,”’ Cotton said. “You have to just go out there and play. I just basically got stronger through it all. I had to stay mentally strong for my teammates, let them know if they get hurt, they can overcome things.”

KU coach Bill Self was at Illinois when Cotton signed with the Spartans.

“He was a big signee for Michigan State,” Self said. “I heard about the car accident. I didn’t know he lost part of a finger, though. He’s obviously a tough kid.

“I coached a kid at Oral Roberts that was in a car accident and lost his index finger on his shooting hand,” he added of Nathan Binam. “It took him a year to recover, but he came back and was as good as ever. There is certainly some adjustment to be made whenever something serious like that happens.”

Cotton scored 16 points off 7-of-13 shooting in the Titans’ last game – a 60-51 victory over Northeastern.

“It was a big win. We really needed it since we’ve been a terrible slump lately (consecutive losses to Toledo, Canisus, Xavier, Wright State).”

The Titans (3-8) were led by Ryvon Covile, a 6-9 senior, who scored 16 points with a career-best 16 rebounds. Covile, who ranks fourth in the country in rebounding at 11.4 per game, averages 15.5 points and has 20 blocks in 11 games.