The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lorain’s Grant making case for Ohio Mr. Basketball distinction
Northeast Ohio has produced several Mr. Basketball winners since the award’s inception in the late 1980s, most recently in 2012 when Mentor’s Justin Fritts was named Associated Press Ohio Mr. Basketball and Terry Rozier (Shaker Heights) earned the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association’s version of the award that same year.
Both versions are awarded each year, with Dane Goodwin (Upper Arlington) earning each of them in 2018.
There have been two twotime OHSBCA Mr. Basketball winners, four two-time AP Ohio Mr. Basketball winners and one three-time winner: LeBron James, who was named both AP Ohio and OHSBCA Mr. Basketball from 2001-03.
Only one person from the city of Lorain has won either award: Admiral King standout Byron Gladden, who was named OHSBCA Mr. Basketball in 1994 after a storied career with the Admirals. But after bursting onto the scene last season and making waves all across the Northeast Ohio basketball landscape this year, Lorain’s Devon Grant could be the player to break that drought.
Grant was impressive as a junior for the Titans but really made a name for himself during the team’s historic tournament run. He averaged 25.4 points over five postseason games, and scored a gamehigh 17 points in a state semifinal loss to Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller despite playing much of the game with a broken right hand.
With seemingly all eyes trained on the All-Ohio point guard, Grant has played beyond even his coaches’ expectations with no regard for the pressure and bright spotlight shining on him since the season’s tipoff.
Lorain opened this season Dec. 1 against Euclid
in the annual Bob DiFranco Memorial TipOff Classic at Midview and Grant wasted no time putting on a show, making his case for every major high school basketball award his very first game of the season.
The 6-foot-2 Miami commit poured on 25 points in the first half en route to a 32-point performance, setting a new single-game DiFranco tournament scoring record and setting the tone for what has been a truly incredible senior season.
Grant has never shown signs of bitterness despite being overlooked most of his high school career. Rather, he’s channeled it into becoming Lorain’s greatest scorer in 20 years, totaling 1,428 career points in what have realistically been little over two seasons after not playing
his freshman year and getting limited court time as a sophomore. He’s surpassed Naz Bohannon (1,345) as the school’s alltime leading scorer and is second in city history only to Mr. Basketball himself, Gladden (1,624).
Opposing coach after opposing coach have said Grant is arguably the best high school player they’ve ever faced, and in one night he laid rest to any and all arguments.
On. Feb. 12, Grant scored a school-record 44 points against Elyria Catholic, 28 in the first half, including a record 10 3-pointers on 10-of-17 shooting from beyond the arc — and those are a few of the records he’s broken this season, including: consecutive free throws made (31), and 3-pointers (74) and free throws (127) made in a season
with three regular-season games left on the schedule.
He’s averaging
27.0 points per game through 19 games and has shot 49 percent from the field, including an astonishing 53 percent from 3-point range, and 87 percent from the free throw line.
Grant’s talent seems to be limitless, and with the Titans’ sky-high expectations placed mostly on his shoulders, he has more than delivered what has been the most impressive regular season - though impressive seems like too small a word - from any one player in area history.
Lorain’s fate remains to be seen, but whether the Titans are the last Division I team standing come March, their immensely talented point guard should no doubt be among those considered for the state’s top individual prize.
Anything less would be more than disappointing.
Not for Grant, however, who’s laser-focused on team success with little regard for any individual praise.
That’s what makes his rare talent so special.