Westwood’s Ethan Marta looks for a lane to drive in during a high school boys basketball game played against Ishpeming at the Patriots’ gym in Ishpeming on Feb. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Maybe we can call Ethan Marta an ambassador.

The Westwood High School senior boys basketball player was named to the Division 3 All-State First Team this week after winning the honor of Mr. U.P. Basketball from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association last week.

He and fellow All-U.P. Dream Team member Tanner Theuerkauf of Menominee represent the U.P. on the All-State First Team, a group compiled by the Michigan Sports Writers organization that took that task over from The Associated Press a few years ago.

Marta and Theuerkauf were the only U.P. players to make the 28-player honor list, which also included the Player of the Year, along with Second Team and Honorable Mention lists, and several coaches of the year.

That seemed fairly reasonable as they were the only players in Divisions 1-3 to make the All-U.P. Dream Team, the three others on the honor squad coming from Division 4.

Westwood’s Ethan Marta, left, strides to the hoop while defended by Negaunee's Cole Prusi during their game played at the Miners’ gym in Negaunee on Dec. 19. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Marta and Theuerkauf, both 6-foot-3 seniors, also squared off for D 1-3 Player of the Year, with Marta winning in a unanimous 18-0 vote before the Patriots player went on to win a fairly easy 14-4 vote for U.P. Player of the Year — the formal name for Mr. U.P. Basketball — over D-4 Player of the Year Liam Tourtillott of Dollar Bay.

Marta had the numbers and the team to back up the media’s choices for all these awards. He not only averaged 28 points per game, but also pulled down 7.6 rebounds, dished out 3.6 assists, made 3.6 steals and added 4.5 deflections each outing while shooting 57.2% overall from the field.

Just for good measure, the Michigan Tech-bound Marta had a nifty 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio, a relatively new non-scoring stat that meant he had nearly twice as many assists as turnovers.

A First Team all-stater last year, too, he was the unanimous choice of coaches as the Player of the Year in both the West PAC and Mid-Peninsula Conference this season

And he finished his high school career with 2,069 points, ranking him 36th on the state’s all-time boys scoring list and top 10 in U.P. history. Just for good measure, his 46-point game against Negaunee this winter set the Westwood record for points in a single game, with another 40-pointer and three in the 30s this season, two of the latter games also including double-digit rebounds.

Theuerkauf, who will join older brother Trevor Theuerkauf at Northern Michigan University on the football team, was voted Player of the Year in the Great Northern Conference after making Second Team All-State in 2025.

He averaged 17.8 points, five rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, passing 1,000 points as a junior.

In football this past fall, he was voted Mr. U.P. Football, too.

Division 3 state champion Pewamo-Westphalia swept the major all-state awards, with Grady Eklund winning Player of the Year and Dominic Schneider the Coach of the Year.

P-W defeated the Arts & Technology Academy of Pontiac 61-57 in the title game, two days after the Pontiac school knocked out Menominee 78-66 in the semifinals.

Menominee sent Westwood to the sidelines in the regional semifinals, 59-46, on March 3 as the Patriots ended with a 23-2 record, its only other loss to Marquette on Jan. 27.

Joining Marta, Theuerkauf and Eklund on the 12-man All-State First Team are Jimmy Miller of Schoolcraft, Lewis Lovejoy of the Arts & Tech Academy of Pontiac, Clayton Heuker of McBain, Jacob Plamondon of Maple City Glen Lake, Adam Dugener of North Muskegon, A.J. Smith of Flint New Standard Academy, Benson Harper of Harbor Beach, Kayden Harmon of New Haven and Ty Strawser of White Pigeon.

Making up the seven-player Second Team are Ian Roberts of Beaverton, Caleb Blonde of Jonesville, Cuyler Smith of Beal City, Dequarius Frierson of Kalamazoo Phoenix, De’Vontae Grandison of the Arts & Tech Academy, Justin Jacobs of Unionville-Sebewaing and Jamison Huizenga of Holland Black River.

Two coaches were named at this level, Brad Maska of Onsted and Ron Wruble of Harbor Beach.

Getting onto the nine-man Honorable Mention list are Caden Carriveau of Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port, Noah Reif of Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Dylan May of Ravenna, Aston Callan of Jackson Lumen Christi, Brian Cox of Center Line Prep Academy, Cole VanderHaag of Mason County Central, Brady Kohlmann of New Lothrop, Andrew Kabban of Harbor Beach and Ryan Abuan of New Haven.

That group’s coach is Cam Gatrell of Beal City.

Story contents based on an Associated Press list of the Michigan Sports Writers awards. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.