The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
N-H presents top area basketball honors
Benedictine’s Zeigler gets Kellogg Award; Mentor’s Krizancic is coach of the year
Benedictine guard Davin Zeigler knew basketball could take him somewhere after he broke out during his sophomore season at Benedictine.
Two years later, he’ll carry the Clark Kellogg Award with him as he begins his Division I basketball career at Bowling Green. Zeigler was named the 2019 winner of the Kellogg Award on March 19 at Hooley House in Mentor.
“It’s a blessing,” Zeigler said. “Just knowing all the work I put in and being named for the Clark Kellogg Award, he’s everywhere in college basketball. It’s an honor.”
A first-team all-district honoree, Zeigler led the 12-10 Bengals with 20.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game during the regular season.
The Bowling Green signee averaged 21 points and eight assists per game in the Bengals’ three Stow District games, en route to a district title. Benedictine was defeated by VASJ in a D-II Canton Regional semifinal.
Finalists for the Kellogg Award also included Lake Catholic junior forward Luka Eller and Mentor junior guard Luke Floriea. Cornerstone Christian’s Michael Bothwell, currently playing at Furman, won the 2018 Clark Kellogg Award.
COMING SOON: THE NEWS-HERALD HONORS THE AREA’S BEST IN BASKETBALL, BOWLING, GYMNASTICS AND WRESTLING
Mentor coach Bob Krizancic won the 2019 NewsHerald boys basketball Coach of the Year award. Krizancic led the Cardinals to a 23-3 season that ended at Cleveland State, where Mentor fell to Green in a D-I regional semifinal. Mentor opened its season with 11 wins in a row and finished the regular season with a program-record 20 wins.
Krizancic, with his son, Cole, and assistant coach Aaron May sitting alongside the Floriea family, pointed to the track record of the Cardinals’ program as the driving force in a successful season few outside Mentor expected.
“It’s special,” Krizancic said. “Aaron May is one of the best assistant coaches. He and my son can roast me later but again, what it is, great parents. We just have the best program in the state.”
The Cardinals’ regularseason record also marked a personal-best in Krizancic’s 38-year coaching career. Mentor won the Greater Cleveland Conference outright and earned the No. 1 seed at the Euclid District after graduating seven senior rotation players and 65 percent of its offensive production from the 2017-18 season. Krizancic was also named the D-I Northeast Lakes District Coach of the Year.
Finalists for the Coach of the Year award also included Newbury’s Dan Jones and Kirtland’s Shawn McGregor.