The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor back to work after 26-day pause
Winter sports were halted as students began virtual learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dec. 7 was a day for a few important questions from Bob Krizancic.
The longtime Mentor boys basketball coach and his team resumed practice Dec. 7, but it might have felt like the first day all over again.
“I asked them all, ‘Tell me on a 1 to 10 scale — 1 being terrible,
10 being great basketball shape — where are you?” said Krizancic after that first practice.
That question was applicable as the nation and Northeast Ohio continue to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, shutdowns and other factors that are preventing all from normalcy.
That’s been the case for Mentor and its sports teams. On Nov. 12, winter sports were paused as students began virtual learning
on recommendation from the Lake County Board of Health.
Dec. 7, the boys basketball and other sports were given the green light to return to practice. That 26-day layoff has Krizancic’s squad playing catchup.
The “Where are you?” question from Krizancic prompted a necessary follow-up.
“Where you going to be on Friday?” he said, referring to Dec. 11.
That because basketball
shape for all Cardinals players needs to be attained in a hurry. Mentor athletic director Jeff Cassella said the team is tentatively scheduled to open the season Dec. 22 at home against crosstown rival Lake Catholic.
Krizancic said his team can’t have contact until “probably next week.” He wants to get his team a scrimmage, and he’s hoping to have one set for next week.
Mentor technically did get some practice time before the shutdown Nov. 12, but it was anything but normal.
“Luke (Chicone) and Kyle Culler — two starters from last year — were quarantined,” said Krizancic. “So we got in about four days and a scrimmage (against Struthers) Luke and Kyle couldn’t play in.”
Krizancic also scheduled scrimmages against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Centerville and St. Edward.
“We lost all those,” he said. “It’s like we’re starting
over right now. Some teams started Oct. 30. We’re basically starting Dec. 7.”
That being said, Krizancic said it was “great to be on the floor” and that “we just have to compact our practices.”
When Mentor finally returns to action, it will hope to one-up last year’s successful 20-6 campaign that looks so promising until COVID-19 canceled the season with the Cardinals one game from the Division I state final four. Their D-I regional final at CSU was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Gone from last year’s team are guard Luke Floriea and forward Chad Rogers, but Chicone is back as the unquestioned leader as one
of Northeast Ohio’s top players and perhaps a candidate for Mr. Basketball in Ohio.
In 2019-20, Chicone — the team’s point guard — was a first-team all-district choice after he averaged 19.7 points, 5.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. The last game he played for Mentor was an all-timer — 39 points and nine rebounds in a doubleovertime regional semifinal win over over Medina.
Losing Floriea and Rogers means the Cardinals have to make up the 35 points per game the duo averaged a year ago. Expected to pick up the slack are Culler and Ian Kipp, who’s back with the program after sitting last season as a
junior. Kipp — Mentor’s record-setting quarterback in the fall — will be a swing forward this winter.
“After they were making their playoff run last year, I was like, ‘Geez, I’d really like to be a part of this,” said Kipp of rejoining the team as a senior.
As for his and the team’s return to court Dec. 7?
“It’s great to be back out here,” said Kipp.
Chicone feels the same way and vows to be ready when the season tips off.
“I’ve been working out one, twice, sometimes three times a day,” he said. “I feel I’m in basketball shape. Not to best shape I can be, but we’ll get there.”