Ferris State’s Justin Keenan Earns Second Straight GLIAC Men’s Basketball “Player of the Year” Award

Tiffin’s Graessle Tabbed “Freshman of the Year,” FSU’s Sall Earns “Coach of the Year” Honors

Click here for printer-friendly (PDF) version of release

BAY CITY, Mich. -- Senior forward Justin Keenan (Grand Rapids, Mich./Ottawa Hills) of Ferris State University has been selected as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) men’s basketball “Player of the Year” for the second consecutive season.  Rookie guard Joe Graessle (Grove City, Ohio/Bishop Ready) of Tiffin University was chosen as “Freshman of the Year,” while FSU head coach Bill Sall earned GLIAC “Coach of the Year” honors.  All three were selected by the GLIAC men’s basketball coaches in conjunction with all-conference balloting.

    Keenan paced the GLIAC in scoring for the third consecutive season by averaging a personal career-high 21.9 points per game.  He also had his best season to date on the glass with a league-best 10 rebounds a contest and is presently the only player in Division II basketball to rank among the nation’s top 20 performers in both categories.  The returning GLIAC “Player of the Year” became the league’s all-time career scoring leader in the regular-season finale versus Grand Valley State (Feb. 26) after being tabbed as the Division II Bulletin Preseason National Player of the Year.  In addition to leading the league in scoring and rebounding, Keenan also totaled a league-best 13 double-double efforts and had a conference-best three games of 30 plus points or more this campaign.  The 6-7 Keenan becomes just the third player in GLIAC history to win multiple “Player of the Year” awards.

    In his first season with the Dragons, Graessle started all 26 games and finished 14th overall and second among freshmen in the GLIAC with 14.3 points per game.  Graessle also led the conference with 2.9 three-pointers made per game. He tallied 20 or more points in a single game five different times this year, including 30 in Tiffin’s win over Ohio Valley (W.Va.) University and a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards against Salem International (W.Va.) University. In TU’s 19-point win over Saginaw Valley State University, Graessle hit four three-pointers in the period of 2:17 in the first half. He was named the GLIAC “Player of the Week” after scoring 47 points in two games the last week of January.

    Sall directed the Bulldogs to their first GLIAC North Division Championship in six years as they recorded a 16-3 league regular season mark this season.  FSU’s 21 wins overall this campaign are the program’s most since reaching the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen with a 24-7 mark under Sall’s leadership in 2004-05.  The ninth-year head coach also guided Ferris State to its sixth GLIAC Tournament berth in the last seven years and a second-straight final four appearance while cracking the national rankings for the first time in more than four years.  Additionally, Sall’s squad earned the league’s top overall seed and the right to host the GLIAC Semifinals/Finals for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

    Joining Keenan on the All-GLIAC North Division First Team are: junior guard Greg Foster (Indianapolis, Ind./T.C. Howe) of Saginaw Valley State; senior guard Darien Gay (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford) of Ferris State; senior guard/forward Justin Ringler (Reed City, Mich.) of Grand Valley State University; and sophomore center Ali Haidar (Windsor, Ont./Forster) of Michigan Technological University.

    The All-GLIAC South Division First Team includes: junior guard Kyle Caiola (Parma, Ohio/UMass-Lowell) and senior guard Nathan Hyde (Findlay, Ohio/Liberty Benton) of the University of Findlay; junior guard/forward Brent Eaton (Middlebury, Ind./Northridge) of Hillsdale College; sophomore guard Mike Hollingsworth (Utica, Mich.) and senior guard Bryan Smothers (Pontiac, Mich./Northern) of Wayne State University.

Below is the complete list of the 2011 All-GLIAC Men's Basketball Teams.