Lights ink Manhatten basketball standout

With a bevy of talented graduates to replace, Montana State University-Northern men's basketball coach Shawn Huse is continuing to announce incoming recruits.

Huse recently announced the signing of Manhatten forward Tanner Hupka to an NAIA national letter of intent. Hupka is a 6-5 forward who helped the Tigers to a 23-3 record this past season and a runner-up finish at the Class B state tournament.

"Tanner is first and foremost a quality person," Huse said. "We are very excited to have a guy of his high character-level both on and off the court, and in the classroom. He was one of the premier players in the state this year and we look forward to watching his development in the future. He works very hard to garner rebounds and loose-balls, has a knack for scoring, consistently knocks down the face-up shots and has a great deal of potential with his work ethic."

This past season, Hupka averaged 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in earning Class B All-State honors. He set school records in points in a season with 438 and rebounds in a season with 269. For his efforts, he was selected to play in this summer's prestigious Montana-Wyoming All-Star Series.

Hupka finished his high school career by finishing sixth in the triple jump at the Class B state track and field meet two weeks ago in Bozeman. He earned Academic All-State honors and graduated from Manhatten with a 3.63 GPA.

Huse will announce more new signings in the coming weeks.

Manhatten's Tanner Hupka will be joining the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball program this coming fall. Hupka was a Class B All-State standout in Manhatten and helped the school to a runner-up finish at the Class B state tournament in March.