The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Turay winds up winning MVP
To wrap a bow on the 2023-24 boys basketball season, Lorain County’s best got together for the final time at Elyria on March 15 for Troy DiFranco AllStar night.
After a rollercoaster season that saw him miss over half of it, North Ridgeville’s Griffin Turay got to wrap a bow on his career the right way. He scored 21 points combined in two games to win MVP of the Gene Legeza Cage Classic senior all-star game.
In the new format with four seven-player teams, Turay’s Team A won in the finals over Team C, 25-15.
“I think a lot of unfortunate things happened this season, but at the end of the day, it’s not about what happened, it’s about how you react. That’s all you can control,” Turay said. “I think that’s just something
I learned this year, and it’s something that I try to apply to everything in my life.
“Coming in here today and having fun with a bunch of guys that I’ve grown up with, that’s what I think we all did.”
The winning team was composed of Turay, Lorain’s Asiah Kielian, Amherst’s Landen Bray, Open Door’s Anthony Januzzi, Vermilion’s Riley Kearns and Elyria’s Xavier Church. In the 16-minute semifinals, they cruised to a 41-17 win over Team B. Turay scored 13 and Kielian scored 10 to lead the way.
Black River’s John Kray led Team B with eight points in the loss, followed by three from Lorain County Mr. Basketball winner Nathan Borling of Columbia.
Team C advanced to the finals in a much more competitive game over Team D, 47-37. North Ridgeville’s Collin Jones scored 13 to lead Team C, followed by 11 from Avon’s Tyson Ziegler and eight from Midview’s David Moore.
Peyton Lerch of Avon Lake led Team D with 12 points. Midview’s Drew DiFranco (nine points) and Lorain’s Jaiden Guerra-Howard (eight) helped lead the charge.
In the finals, with an Elam Ending up to 25, Team A took care of business. Despite seven points from Ziegler, Turay and Kielian combined for 15 to take home the win. Kielian also combined for 17 points for both games.
“I think (the new format) makes things more competitive,” Kielian said. “Everybody wants to win. It wasn’t really an all-star game. It was a real game.”
In between the senior all-star semifinals and finals, the rising stars was played and it was a classic. Thirty-two minutes wasn’t enough to decide it, but the
Home team pulled away in overtime with a 97-92 win over the Away team. Nolan Waechter led Home with 25 points to earn the game’s MVP.
“It’s definitely fun because you go all season wanting to win, win, win,” Waechter said. “Just to come in and play basketball almost like you’re on a playground, it’s a different environment.”
Trailing by three in the final seconds, Firelands’ Max Stinson connected on a deep 3-pointer to force overtime. In the extra period, baskets by Avon Lake’s Brandon Bromley and Amherst’s Eli Solak made the difference. Lorain’s Aven Kielian put an exclamation point on the game with a half-court buzzer-beater.
Lorain’s Julian Daniels (23 points) and Elyria’s Jayden Crutcher (21 points) led the way for the Away squad.
The night tipped off with
the 3-point contest, as Vermilion’s AJ Gerber took home the title with scores of 20 and 23 in his two rounds. In the finals, he knocked off Kray and Lake Ridge’s Riley Kolbay.
“For me, it’s when the ball goes in the hoop,” Gerber said. “When I saw the first shot go in, I knew that I could get a rhythm going. That’s how I am during the season. I just kept my pace and kept my rhythm, and saw the shot go through the hoop.”
Up next was the dunk contest, and that went to Wellington’s Sean Whitehouse. The senior defeated Clearview’s Deacon Delgado in the finals with a simple but effective slam.
He didn’t even know he was going to be participating until last week, but it worked out for him in the end.
“It feels great,” Whitehouse said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do for the second one, but it all worked out.”