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 2018 8th Grade Boys (Garrett) Best Defensive Player Award is Deven Marathe from Nagel Blue Middle School!

In nearly every game, I assigned Deven the task of defending the opposing team's top perimeter player. He always accepted the challenge and did everything he could to keep his man from scoring and getting into the offensive flow. His athletic ability, effort, and desire shut down a number of players throughout the season. He works extremely hard and is very coachable. I'm excited to see Deven continue to improve as a basketball player! Congratulations Deven!