Michigan Tech's Stelzer Named GLIAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year; All-GLIAC Teams Announced

BAY CITY, Mich. - Michigan Tech senior guard Ben Stelzer was selected the 2014-15 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Men's Basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted by the league's head coaches. Malone point guard Ben Haraway was named GLIAC Freshman of the Year, while Lake Superior State's Steve Hettinga earned Coach of the Year accolades after guiding the Lakers to their second consecutive league title.

Michigan Tech's Ben Stelzer led the GLIAC in scoring all season, finishing at 22 points per game. The recently-named Academic All-American posted 20 or more points in 18 games with three 30-point performances. He leads the nation in 3-point field goals made per game (3.96) and ranks among the national leaders in scoring and 3-point percentage (45.0). Stelzer, with 572 points this season, has totaled 1,709 career points—seventh most in Michigan Tech history.

The senior guard also reset Tech's record for 3-pointers made (355). Stelzer was the preseason GLIAC Player of the Year and four-time GLIAC Player of the Week during the 2014-15 campaign that saw the Huskies finish second in the GLIAC standings.

After leading Norwalk High School to an Ohio Division II State Championship last year, Malone's Ben Haraway made an outstanding collegiate debut for the Pioneers, averaging 13.5 points, 3.4 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per contest.

Haraway, a 6-foot-1 point guard, started all 28 games for Malone and led the squad in scoring, assists, steals and minutes played (32.5 per game).  He also put forth the best single-game free-throw shooting performance in Pioneer history by going a perfect 19-for-19 at the foul line in a double-overtime contest against rival Walsh. 

Lake Superior State head coach Steve Hettinga, in his eighth season with the Lakers, is the first GLIAC coach to earn back-to-back coach of the year honors since Findlay's Ron Niekamp won it three straight times from 2005-07. The Three Oaks, Mich., native has an overall career head coaching record of 235-197. He is 140-90 at LSSU with three 20-win seasons.

Last season, Hettinga was named coach of the year after his team battled its way through the GLIAC with all-region guard Derek Billing and a strong supporting cast. In 2014-15 he and the Lakers did it with the league's best defense and balanced scoring. The Lakers (23-5 overall, 18-4 GLIAC) led the league in scoring defense throughout the year and currently rank 17th nationally in that category.