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 11th Grade Boys (Callahan) Best Defensive Player Award is Hunter Bode from Anderson High School!

Hunter was a major prescence in the paint for us this season. He led our team with 227 rebounds and with 106 blocks this season. He also affected a number of other shots with his length, athleticism, and timing. Hunter's defensive positioning and his knowledge of our offense really improved as well. He worked very hard to improve his free throw shooting and his numbers reflect that improvement. His free throw percentage rose every month from 44% in March/April, to 50% in May/June, to 65% in July. He also shot a team high 57.6% from the field this season.

I pushed Hunter very hard this season because he is very talented and I wanted to see him continue to develop his skill set and he got better and better as the season progressed. He played his best basketball at the end of the season during the NCAA evaluation period in July. Hunter filled up the stat sheet in a big win for our team against E.O.T.B. at the AAU National Championship Tournament with 20 pts., 17 rebs., 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and 1 deflection. I really believe that Hunter hasn't even scratched the surface of the kind of player that he become and that should make all of his opposing coaches very nervous.

I enjoyed coaching Hunter this year and I expect him to have a fantastic Senior season at Anderson High School and to have the opportunity to continue his career on the next level. Congratulations Hunter!