MARYVILLE, Mo. — With six seniors graduating from his 2007-08 NCAA Tournament team — and huge questions surrounding the availability of another player — Northwest Missouri State basketball coach Steve Tappmeyer has plenty of holes to fill before he unveils his 2008-09 version of the Bearcats.

At least with the announcement of two more commitments Wednesday, he’s more than halfway finished with the job.

Jake Petersen, a 6-foot guard from Omaha, Neb., has signed a letter of intent to play for the Bearcats next season, Tappmeyer announced. Petersen played for Omaha Roncalli Catholic. The first-team Nebraska all-state selection averaged 17 points as a senior and 16 points as a junior for the Crimson Pride. He helped lead Roncalli to the state tournament during the 2006-07 season. He also competed on the Future Stars AAU team and was a 2006 Bison All-Star team member.

“Jake is a player with great upside as far as a college point guard,” Tappmeyer said. “I really like his potential and believe he’ll be a good fit in

our system.”

In addition, Nick Mikle, a 6-3 guard, has committed to play at Northwest on a walk-on basis. Mikle led Lee’s Summit West to the Missouri Class 4 quarterfinals as a junior, then transferred to IMG Academy, a Bradenton, Fla.-based sports training facility with an academic element, for his final academic year.

While at IMG, Mikle averaged 11.4 points and earned all-tournament team honors while competing against some of the nation’s best prep talent.

“We’re excited for Nick to join our program,” Tappmeyer said. “He had a solid high school career, and we believe he’ll have a chance to come in and compete for a spot immediately.”

Those two join previous signees Jake Reinders, from Omaha Skutt, and Blake Bales, who played at Olathe (Kan.) East, who transfers after playing last season at Hutchinson Community College.

With seniors Mose Howard, Andy Peterson, Matt Withers, Andrais Thornton, John Hawkins and Kelvin Cayruth gone, Tappmeyer had expected to have a half dozen slots to fill.

However, he also must make contingency plans after sophomore guard Lance Sullivan was suspended indefinitely after being arrested earlier this month on a charge of distributing a controlled substance to a minor.

“We’re having to beat the bushes,” Tappmeyer said. “It leaves a big hole in the middle of everything.”

For now, Sullivan likely has to be considered for one of those scholarships, since the program has not fully cut ties with the Ohio native, pending the resolution of his case. But Sullivan’s arraignment is not scheduled until June 10 in associate circuit court in Maryville, just days before the deadline for players to sign their scholarship renewals. The availability of his scholarship dollars could be a big factor as Northwest coaches scramble to fill a likely need so late in their recruiting process.

“We can (decide to) not renew his scholarship, but we have not yet made that decision,” Tappmeyer said.

Perfect scores

Head football coach Mel Tjeerdsma had plenty of reason to smile as he looked up and down the list of players, making note of the numbers that followed the names.

They weren’t 40-yard dash times or bench press weights. These were the recently concluded semester’s grades, and the digits “4.0” showed up on the list with some regularity.

Eleven times, to be exact.

Brandon Clayton, Brant Gregg, Joel Osborn, Greg Applegate, Billy Baudler, Luke Buntz, E.J. Hawkins, Sean Paddock, Evan Wilmes, Nathan Roach and Dylan Rosier all had perfect grades for the spring semester. Eight of those student-athletes saw playing time for the Bearcats last season.

In all, 40 of the 96 roster players had a grade-point average of 3.0 or better.

“We had 11 players with a 4.0, and that’s more than we’ve ever had before,” Tjeerdsma said. “Of course, we have a few that are going through summer school, too. You always seem to have a few at each end of the spectrum.”

And smart, too

It was a good spring for Audrey Bailey, who excelled not only on the track but also in the classroom.

Bailey, a junior from Lathrop, Mo., was named to the MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll on Wednesday, just days after making an appearance in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Bailey, a corporate recreation major and standout hurdler, heads a group of 25 Northwest student-athletes — seven men and 19 women — to earn the academic honor.

Northwest men named to that honor roll were John Bullock, Brad Cox, Martin Curley, Ryan Gates, Courtland Ingram, Jeff Kanger and Ben McKim.

Other Northwest women named were Lindsay Biermann, Jane Bowness, Emily Churchman, Tasha Cockrum, Jennifer Dittburner, Tierney Eaton, Kim Eversgerd, Katie Harman, Hannah Henry, Jennifer Kiss, Lexi Koenig, Maggie McManigal, Anna O’Brien, Amber Reed, Tennille Shearer, Karah Spader and Megan Tinsley.