Published: July 24, 2009 11:54 pm      

Tullis to play pro basketball in Luxembourg

Greater Johnstown High School and Pitt-Johnstown graduate Marcus Tullis will play professional basketball in Luxembourg in western Europe.

The NCAA Division II Honorable Mention All-American is the second Mountain Cats player in as many years to sign a pro deal in Europe, following the lead of All-American Chris Gilliam, who played in Denmark last season.

“I definitely thought if I kept working at it I could play professional somewhere,” said Tullis, a 6-foot-6 forward who led UPJ with 18.4 points a game, 34 blocked shots and a 57.6 field goal percentage. “I know a guy who used to play in Luxembourg, and he put me in contact with a player who is playing now. We sent my game tapes. I guess they liked them. They offered me a contract for this season.”

UPJ coach Bob Rukavina believes Tullis will fit into the European system.

“When they get Americans they like to get a guy who’s real athletic and can excite the crowd,” Rukavina said. “Marcus is probably the most athletic player we’ve had at UPJ in the last 20 years as far as dunking and jumping. He was really skilled in the post. He’d get the ball down there, and there would be people on him. But he had a turn-around jump shot that nobody could block. He had a lot of moves around the basket. He was very fluid.”

A first-team WVIAC selection and WVIAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, Tullis helped the Cats go 24-8 and win a third straight NCAA Tournament berth during his senior season. In addition to his scoring prowess, Tullis averaged

6.2 rebounds a game and shot 78 percent from the free-throw line. He finished his UPJ career with 1,570 points, third all-time on the Mountain Cats list. His

604 rebounds rank sixth all-time at UPJ.

“Playing at UPJ and living away from home was a different environment with a lot of different people and a lot of different cultures. That helped me,” Tullis said. “Playing up there, even though it was Division II there was a high-level of skill and a high level of competition. It was what I needed to train myself.”

Tullis will leave for Luxembourg on Aug. 2. Until then, he’ll continue playing in an Altoona summer basketball league. He’s also on a training regimen in preparation for the difficult transition to the pro game.

“The lane is wider in Europe. It’s an international lane,” Rukavina said.

“Marcus is working more this summer on his perimeter game, shooting the ball. He’s a very versatile player. I think he’ll do a lot of scoring both inside and outside when he’s there. He can shoot the

3-pointer. He never really did that for us but he’s very capable of doing that. He’ll be playing against bigger guys. Chris Gilliam said he was playing against

7-footers every night over there.”

Tullis expects the next week to pass quickly.

“It is excitement and nervousness at the same time,” he said.