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 11th Grade Boys (Callahan) Best Defensive Player Award is Ish Ismail from West Clermont High School!

Ish was one of our team leaders in steals, deflections, rebounds, and charges taken. He can do it all on the defensive end of the floor. He is a versatile player that is able to use his length and athleticism to defend multiple positions. There are so many things that Ish does that don’t show up in the box score. Whether it was taking a charge, diving for a loose ball, jumping to save a bad pass, or defending a bigger player, Ish was always willing to sacrifice his body to help the team. He was also always willing to accept the challenge of guarding the best player on the opposing team and his leadership and communication with his teammates on the court was invaluable. He is a hard worker and only knows one way to play the game of basketball and that is full speed all of the time. I enjoyed coaching Ish this year and I expect him to have a fantastic senior season at West Clermont High School and to have the opportunity to continue his career on the next level. Congratulations Ish!