There’s always a benefit to familiarity with a coach, even if that familiarity is based on shared geography.

Hailing from the same place as his new coach, Treyvon Lewis — one of the stars of Ferndale High School’s most recent surge to state prominence in basketball — has committed to play for the Western Michigan Broncos men’s basketball squad coached by Dwayne Stephens, one of the stars of Ferndale’s last run.

Western Michigan announced the transfer portal move earlier this week.

“We are excited to add Trey to our program,” Stephens said in a news release. “He is a true two-way player who can defend and make shots at a high level. He’s from the state of Michigan, and we are ready for the immediate impact he will have on our program in all areas, both on and off the court.”

A Mr. Basketball finalist his senior year at Ferndale, the 6-foot-6 Lewis spent the first three seasons of his college career outside his home state, redshirting at Loyola Chicago in 2022-23, then playing in 10 games in his redshirt freshman season, before transferring to Purdue Fort Wayne last season.

He played in all 32 games for the Mastodons last year, averaging 4.7 point and 1.2 rebounds per connect, scoring in double figures in league road wins over Green Bay and Milwaukee.

A four-year varsity player for Ferndale in high school, Lewis led the Eagles to four straight district championships, and two straight final four appearances in Division 2 his final two years as a prep player. He was rated by 247Sports as the top recruit in Michigan as a senior, and a three-star recruit overall.

He was first-team Division 2 All-State as e senior, when he averaged 23 points per game, and finished fifth in the Mr. Basketball voting, behind eventual winner Chansey Willis Jr., a junior on last year’s Broncos squad, which went 12-20, 9-9 in the Mid-American Conference, losing in the first round of the conference tourney.

The Broncos have also signed transfers Jalen Griffith (Navarro College) and Hudson Ward (Penn State), adding to a recruiting class that included Sharod Barnes (Orchard Lake St. Mary’s), Brady Swartz (Grand Rapids Northview), Camden Thompson (Whitehall) and Carson Vis (Grand Rapids South Christian).