On-court lessons will serve Morse well in the engineering field

By LINDA BOUVET, LSSU Sports Information Director 

Going back to the drawing board. It's a life lesson experienced by Lake Superior State senior guard Mark Morse on the basketball court that will serve him well in the engineering field.

After averaging 19.8 points per game as a high school senior, Morse red-shirted his first year at LSSU and did not play in a game the entire season. He missed the first seven games of his first official season due to a hand injury, but went to finish as the Lakers' No. 2 scorer, averaging 12.2 ppg.

Morse picked up where he left off and put up outstanding numbers as a sophomore, but the Lakers were a combined 15-39 during those two seasons and a coaching change was made. Morse and his teammates spent most of last season learning coach Steve Hettinga's systems, and the Lakers finally clicked at the end of 2007-08. They won eight of their last 12 games and earned trip to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinals for the first time since 1996.

This year, the expectations are higher as LSSU's senior-dominated squad vies for its first winning season since 2001-02. The Lakers are working toward playing at a consistently-high level, which is necessary to win week after week in the GLIAC.

Lake Superior State started off this season 2-4, but won five of six games heading into this week's games against Northwood and Wayne state, which close out a five-game homestand. Morse was named GLIAC North Division Player of the Week after scoring 29 points to tie his career high and hitting a school-record nine three-pointers during a 102-74 victory over Saginaw Valley State on Jan. 3.

"It was just one of those games, especially with my teammates who always look to do a real good job moving the ball," Morse told WSOO's Tom Ewing during a radio interview last week. "In that game I think we had 25 assists as a team. That makes a huge difference when we're sharing the ball that well. They were all open shots, most of them created by my teammates. It was pretty easy to knock them down when they look for you like that. Once you hit a few, they look for you even more."

"He's such a good shooter and he's very capable of having nights like those," Hettinga said. "We ran some plays for him after he hit a couple. He'd be the first to acknowledge his teammates for getting him open. If teams leave him open, that's good for us. He has confidence in the shots he takes. He wasn't forcing it, but taking good shots, which is a complement to him too."

Morse is one of four four-year starters on LSSU's team and won't be sneaking under an opposing coach's radar. He was ranked in the top four in GLIAC three-point field-goal percentage as a sophomore and a junior. He is averaging 10.4 points per game this season, and has a career three-point field-goal percentage of 45.1 percent. He will finish his career as one of the top five three-point shooters and No. 1 free-throw shooter in Laker basketball history.

"It's always been my strength and something I put a lot of time into," Morse said of his long-range touch. "It's one aspect of the game that's easiest to work on. All you have to do is go into the gym and shoot."

Morse was coached in high school by his father, Geoff Morse, and was tutored by Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan hall of fame coach Charlie Paige. He's a tough assignment for GLIAC defenders.

Hettinga noticed last season that opposing coaches were quick to get on players who gave Morse an open look at the basket.

"I've heard some coaches screaming if I get an open shot," Morse said. "That makes me laugh. It's not so much that I'm double-teamed, but the people guarding me don't leave me to help out on drives. They stay on me."

Morse's green light to shoot threes was the one aspect of Laker basketball that didn't change when Hettinga took over the program.

"A lot of the concepts are the same, but he is more detail-oriented," Morse said in reference to Hettinga. "You have to do things exactly right. He's a perfectionist."

According to Morse, Hettinga's coaching style is a perfect fit for a determined group of Lakers. There has been no resistance to change within a seasoned group of upperclassmen. If fact, it brought a close-knit group that much closer.

"We've got to play team basketball," Morse said. "We are not what you would call an incredibly athletic team. We have to play together."

Morse has taken the same mindset into his engineering projects. Classmate Adam Smith, who is a member of the LSSU track and field team, and Morse made a presentation on behalf of the Prototype Development Center to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation last fall.

Morse and Smith were part of a PDC team, which is an extension of the LSSU School of Engineering and Technology, which helped bring the newly-formed SmartZone to Chippewa County.

"We wanted to give (the MEDC) an idea of what we were doing with the funding they gave us," said Morse, whose senior projects team has developed and tested prototypes of inventions so small businesses and entrepreneurs can present them to investors. Morse handles the electrical aspects of their top-secret current project, while Smith handles the mechanical engineering side.

"I've been involved with different parts of four projects," Morse said. "It's been difficult (managing an engineering curriculum and playing basketball), but it was more difficult my first year when we were traveling. The last few years, it's been a little easier. I know what I need to do, and I know my professors a little better. When you have that relationship, it's easier to stay caught up."