Dec 9, 2008

Marquette teammates to play basketball at LSSU

SAULT STE. MARIE - Marquette Senior High School teammates Joe Simon and Tyler Geary have signed National Letters of Intent to play basketball at Lake Superior State.

Simon is a 6-6 forward and a two-time runner-up for the Upper Peninsula Class A-B-C Player of the Year Award. He was named the Great Northern Conference's Player of the Year as a sophomore and junior. Last season, he scored 420 points, averaging 20 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and shooting a school-record 61.8 percent from the field. He also holds Marquette's school record for most free throws made in a game (17-of-19 vs. Negaunee). He went into this season with 1,002 career points.

"Joe is a very good scorer," LSSU coach Steve Hettinga said. "He has the body of a college player, is very strong and gets it done despite the unconventional ways in which he scores. He comes from a big program and should be able to step in right away."

Simon was also an All-GNC linebacker and quarterback for the Redmen. Joe's father, Mark Simon, played at Northern Michigan from 1983-86 and scored 1,078 career points.

Geary, a 5-9 point guard, averaged 5.1 points and 6.0 assists per game for MSHS last season. He shot 83.3 percent at the free-throw line.

"He's an old-mold point guard," Hettinga said. "He's a pass-first guard and has a knack for managing the game. We hope he's a player we can eventually give the ball to for 30 to 35 minutes a game."

The Geary name is familiar to Sault Ste. Marie basketball fans. Tyler's father, Mike Geary, led the Laker women's basketball team to two-year record of 47-10 when he served as head coach from 1986-88. He went on to coach the NMU women's program from 1988-2006 and was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1989 and '97. Tyler's brother, Sean, is a senior guard at Michigan Tech.

Hettinga has one of the biggest recruiting challenges the Laker men's basketball program has ever faced as he must replace five seniors, including four four-year starters.

"We're hoping to build a great basketball program, not just have a great basketball team," Hettinga said. "We need to fill five positions, which is big in terms of numbers and their importance to the team. We are choosing people wisely and piecing things together to build the program we want to have in the future."

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