The Ohio Crossover Athletics Best Defensive Player Award is given to a player who exemplifies excellence on the defensive end of the court. This player through effort, hard work, and ability is able to disrupt the opposing team and take them out of their offense by shutting down his opponent one-on-one or contributing to his team's success with great help side defense. I am proud to announce that the winner of the 2017 OCA 10th Grade Boys (Callahan) Best Defensive Player Award is James Lytle from Madeira High School!

James is the type of player that any coach would love to have on his team. He is athletic, has great height and length, but most importantly he plays hard. He is an aggressive defender who was one of our team leaders in rebounding and blocked shots this season. He has great timing to block and alter shots in the paint. and he improved each week as he gained a better understanding of what our team needed him to do for us to be successful.

I enjoyed coaching James this season and I'm looking forward to watching him play for his school team this year! Congratulations James!