The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Titans’ Bohannon caps career as Mr. Basketball
Lorain senior honored during all-star evening
There was one more goal for Naz Bohannon to reach before he called it a career at Lorain.
On March 26 at Oberlin College, the senior accepted Lorain County’s most prestigious high school basketball award — Mr. Basketball — in front of a packed gym full of family, friends, teammates and those who were lucky enough to watch one of the most special basketball players to put on Titans uniform.
“It feels amazing,” Bohannon said. “To win the Mr. Basketball award was a goal I set out as a freshman. I saw Davon (Andrews) win it and it made me even more hungry for it. To bring it back to the city once again, that’s all I needed.”
Bohannon joins a prestigious list of Lorain County high school basketball talent dating to 1975, including former teammate Andrews who won it in 2015.
It’s the joy and passion for the game that sets the Division I prospect apart, and while accepting the award, Bohannon said he loves everything about basketball from the sound the ball makes when it hits the floor to the feeling of having a whole gym of supporters cheering him on.
“It’s incredible,” Bohannon said. “I feel an adrenaline rush and I kind of get addicted to it. I love everything that goes into it, that’s why I’m always clapping, I’m always jumping all over the place because I can’t control myself.
“That’s a part of me and that’s what I want to keep doing. My mom and my parents always told me growing up that if it’s not fun anymore to leave it alone, so I make sure every time I step on the court I have fun.”
Coach John Rositano, who has coached Bohannon since he was a freshman at Lorain, said the senior has used his talent on the court and his excellence in the classroom to unite a community in his time as a Titan.
Bohannon averaged 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists in his final high school season, and he will graduate among the top 25 students and, along with receiving his high school diploma, will have graduated with an associate’s degree from Lorain County Community College.
“He not only did it on the basketball court, but in the classroom and in the community,” Rositano said. “He brought a lot of people in the city of Lorain together, among others, but he had that charisma, that ‘it factor’ that you just can’t teach, and he brought it to the gymnasium, to the classroom, he galvanized the community, and he’s a kid that we’re going to be referencing to our younger kids for a long time because he did a lot of everything.”
Bohannon credits his parents and family for continuing to support him through the years, but noted the many coaches he’s had from middle school to today have shaped him into the player he’s become — an all-time Lorain great.
“Definitely my mom, my dad, but guys like Brian Smith, Doug Taylor, Marcus Martin, those guys, those are key people who have been in my life,” Bohannon
said of his influences.
The Mr. Basketball award is added to an ever-growing list of accomplishments for Bohannon, including Lorain County Division I Player of the Year, Northeast Lakes District Player of the Year, Morning Journal Player of the Year and first team All-Ohio, and in four years as a Titan, has totaled 81 wins — 103 if you include football wins.
“You could tell right then he was a special player,” Rositano said of coaching Bohannon as a freshman.
“(He was) the kid that brought a lot of enthusiasm to the gym, and as he took more of a leadership role the last couple years, it was neat to be around for four years.
“The younger kids that watched him play, and we can reference the straight A’s, the associate degree in high school. You can’t put a price tag on that, it’s amazing . ... He genuinely roots not only for Lorain High School, but for the city of Lorain, and that’s a neat thing.”
Legeza Cage Classic
The Legeza Cage Classic, Lorain County’s senior allstar game, was held March 26 at Oberlin College and featured a 3-point contest, a dunk contest, a Rising Stars game and a senior all-star game.
Avon senior Ben Yurkovich took down reigning 3-point champion Antonio Blanton of Elyria, making 20 3s in the first round and 15 in the second round to take the crown. Blanton made 24 in the first round, the most of any round, and 14 in the finals.
Elyria’s Deviian Williams edged Wellington’s Trey Bealer in the finals of the dunk contest with a dunk that send the gym into a frenzy.
“It was really fun,” the 6-foot-2 Williams said. “I was kind of nervous, but when everyone cheered I was like, ‘All right,’ and I went along with it.
“It feels real good to win because I didn’t expect it.”
In the Rising Stars game, a game featuring Lorain County’s top underclassmen, Midview’s Gage Carnes was named MVP after a 20-point performance that featured four 3-pointers. Mason Montgomery (Vermilion) had 15 points.
In the senior all-star game, Elyria’s Dez Brown scored 21 points and had five 3-pointers to take the night’s other MVP award.