The NIU men’s basketball team solidified the future of its backcourt when it announced the signing of guard Marcus Coty, head coach Jim Rosborough said.

Coty, a 6-foot-1-inch, 165-pound senior from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received a call from Rosborough Sunday night and signed a National Letter of Intent Tuesday.

Coty is the third player to sign with NIU this season. Pivotmen Randy Fens (Dubuque, Iowa) and Brent Varner (Warren, Mich.) signed last week.

“We had Marcus visiting with us in the fall and all the coaches and players liked him,” Rosborough said. “We knew that he wanted to play here, so we decided to get him signed as soon as possible.”

osborough, who became aware of Coty’s ablity at the B-C Camp in Rensselaer, Ind., this summer, said he feels Coty will provide good depth next year at point guard.

“Having Marcus will give us another ‘true’ point guard,” Rosborough said. “He’s a quick, solid, spread-court player who will provide good depth behind (leading pointman candidate) Donald Whiteside.

“His signing also puts us in a situation where we will not have to specifically recruit any guards for a couple of years. With Donald, Stacy (Arrington) and Jo Jo (Jackson), we have a solid group of young guards.”

Coty, who plays under coach Don King at Washington, averaged 9.5 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game as a member of last year’s 20-3 squad which reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

“He’s a very good kid who comes from a good, sound background,” Rosborough said. “His high school coach is nationally recognized as one of the very best, and he has a couple of state titles to show for it.

“Marcus has also performed well in the classroom. He scored a 25 on his ACT and is an excellent student. He’s going to fit in well with the kids we have here. He’ll prosper in our program.”

The future Huskie said he chose NIU’s program over such Division I schools as DePaul, Baylor, Northern Iowa, Iowa State and Morehead State. He said he decided to sign with NIU because of the coaching staff and the school’s good reputation in his future major.

“Basically I chose NIU for its good school of business and because I wanted to play under Coach Rosborough and his assistant Jon Mackey,” Coty said.

“Coach Rosborough was involved in the trip to the Final Four and all the other success they had at Iowa a few years back, and I have cousins who have played for coach Mackey (at Washington). Everything I have heard about them has been positive.”

Coty, who said he believes the strengths of his game are his passing and outside shooting, says his play at the B-C camp is what brought interest from big schools.

“I held my own against some of the top guards in the nation,” Coty said. “Before that, I hadn’t rolled up any big stats or had any big games.

“I’m just glad to get the oppurtunity to play at NIU. I’ve been in contact with their program by seeing them play at Northern Iowa. Coach Rosborough has turned out nothing but class acts.”