Tomashek named Most Valuable Player for the third season in a row
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Coming off a historic 2025-26 campaign, the Michigan Tech men’s basketball team continued to build on its success, repeating as GLIAC regular season champions while capturing the program’s first Midwest Region Championship. The Huskies advanced to the Elite Eight and matched a program record with 29 wins on the season. Following the record-setting year, the coaching staff has announced the team award winners for the 2025-26 season.
Senior guard and multiple-time All-American Marcus Tomashek earned the Ken Hamar Award for the third-consecutive season, given to the team’s most valuable player.
Tomashek, the pride of Green Bay, Wisconsin, finished his career with the third-most points in program history for the 2025-26 season with 739 points for a career total of 2,452, which ranks second all-time. Additionally, he earned numerous postseason honors, including NABC All-America, NABC All-District, D2CCA All-Region First Team, Midwest Region Tournament MVP and First Team All-GLIAC while also being on the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List and the Trevor Hudgins Award Top 15 Watch List. He started 34 games this season, averaging 21.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 39.3 percent from the field, 37.2 percent from three-point range, and 78.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Alex Calcaterra earned the Bill Gappy Award as the most improved player. Calcaterra, a native of Boyne City, Michigan, appeared in 15 games for the Black & Gold this season, averaging three minutes per game.
Bill Gappy (Michigan Tech Hall of Fame) collected 146 wins in 12 seasons as head coach of the Huskies (1972-83, 1984-85).
Gabe Smith, hailing from St. Germain, Wisconsin, earned the Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award. He started all 36 games in the 2025-26 campaign, averaging 7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 assists in 26.7 minutes per game. Smith led the Huskies with 244 rebounds and 62 steals.
Harold Meese (Michigan Tech Hall of Fame) spent 36 years as a professor and dean of students at Michigan Tech. He also served on the Michigan Tech Athletic Board and helped create and administer the athletic grant-in-aid program.
Freshman Jesse Napgezek, a native of Wausau, Wisconsin, earned the Bob Olson Outstanding Newcomer Award. Napgezek appeared in 35 games for the Huskies, averaging 7.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 16.8 minutes per game. He was vital in Michigan Tech’s run in the regional tournament, earning a spot on the Midwest Region All-Tournament team after averaging 18 points per game on 52.4 percent from the field, while shooting 31-43 from the charity stripe (72.1%).
Smith and Peyton LaCombe earned the Scholastic Achievement award. Both hold a 3.95 cumulative GPA, with Smith majoring in civil engineering and LaCombe studying biomedical engineering.
