Iron Mountain & Suttons Bay: Bad for Football, Good for Basketball

Suttons Bay went down to its first defeat of the season in the regional title game on Friday night as Iron Mountain cruised to a 41-17 victory. You can read about it in the Traverse City Record-Eagle, and congratulations on another great season by the Norsemen!

Although Iron Mountain wasn’t good news for Suttons Bay football, Iron Mountain native Tom Izzo had great things to say about Suttons Bay basketball star Dwaun Anderson, who formally committed to Michigan State University last Thursday:

“This was Dwaun’s dream coming true,” Suttons Bay basketball coach Todd Hursey said. “It’s special for a small town player to get a Big Ten scholarship, but Michigan State is one of the premier programs in the country. They’re ranked No. 2. They’re in the Final Four all the time.”

Anderson, who worked on his strength and jump shot during the off-season, led Suttons Bay to a Class C state final appearance last season. He is part of a nationally-ranked class that includes 6-6 forward Brandon Dawson of Indiana, 6-6 forward Brandon Kearney of Detroit and 6-foot guard Travis Trice of Ohio.

“If you look at the four guys we got, they’re all winners,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said at a news conference. “They’ve all either been state champs or been to state semifinals. And they’ve all been pretty well coached. That was a big thing to me. And the real big thing, they all wanted to be here.”

Anderson, who likes to attack the basket, averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists last season.

“A phenomenal athlete,” Izzo said. “Not under the radar, because he was recruited by a lot of schools. But under the radar because he’s from Suttons Bay, where you’re just a stone’s throw from Iron Mountain (Izzo’s former high school).

Here’s a YouTube highlight reel for Dewan from last year: