After he set the school record for points in a career and led the Brush Arcs to their first No. 1 seed in postseason history, Brush’s Elmore James capped his high school career as the winner of the Clark Kellogg Award as The News-Herald player of the year.
The coach of the year is Mentor’s Bob Krizancic, who won the award for the third time in four seasons.
The awards were presented during a special edition of Varsity Chalk Talk, hosted by Bill Tilton. The show also saw the Kaayla Chones Award (girls basketball player of the year) and the girls basketball coach of the year.
James is the fourth Arc to win the Clark Kellogg award since 2001. He joins the likes of Roy Hall (2001), Nate Tait (2009) and John Hughley (2020).
On the season James, an Ohio University signee, averaged 24.3 points, 2.1 assists and 5 rebounds per game. This was the second season that he was the Arcs lead scorer and finished second on the team in the 2019-20 season behind Hughley.
PHOTOS: News-Herald high school basketball awards, March 21, 2022
"It's been a blessing over these last few years to be able to learn from some of the best leaders possible," said James. "They've helped shape me into the leader that I became and to be able to win this award and follow in their footsteps is an amazing accolade that I can add to what I did at Brush."
James was one of four finalists for the Clark Kellogg award, which was named after the St. Joseph graduate who went on to play for Ohio State before playing in the NBA. The other finalists were:
• Richmond Heights' Josiah Harris, who averaged a double-double of 19.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. With Harris’s leadership on the court and from the bench, the Spartans won their first state championship. Harris is also a strong on-ball defender who averaged 2.1 steals on the season.
• Mayfield’s Hayden Nahra, who wrapped up his career with the Wildcats as the schools leading scorer. He averaged 17.5 points per game and 8.8 rebounds to help lead Mayfield to the district semifinals. Nahra was also relied upon to be able to run the offense when needed.
• Euclid’s Clayton Cunningham, a stat sheet stuffer who led the Panthers in points (23.5), steals (3.5), assists (4.7), and rebounds (5.9). While a usual 3-point shooter, he finished with 67 3s on the season, Cunningham improved on his driving ability and work in the paint.
Mentor’s Bob Krizancic took home the N-H coach of the year award for the third time in four seasons. This season saw the Cardinals enter with a whole new look as they graduated a pantheon of players from last season’s undefeated regular season and run to the state semifinals.
However, the new names surpassed expectations as they went 20-7 on the season, 7-3 in the Greater Cleveland Conference and won 11 of their last 12 under Krizancic. The Cardinals also advanced to their fourth straight regional round of the postseason before they lost to St. Edward.
Mentor also earned a share of the GCC conference championship with Solon.
"We always believe in the saying that we don't rebuild, we reload," said Krizancic. "To have a team that when we were 7-6 the go on that run and to get that taste of the Sweet 16, it was unbelievable and I know our guys are going to learn from it and be ready for next season."
Gilmour’s Dan DeCrane and Mayfield’s Will Brand were also finalists for the coach of the year. DeCrane led the Lancers back to the state finals for the first time in 30 years while Brand guided the Wildcats to a share of the Western Reserve Conference title and a 19-6 record.
