Mentor Boys' Basketball Team Reflects on Season

Sure, losing stinks.

You pace the floor, go over every detail and inevitably face the fact that there was nothing you could do to prevent the disaster from happening. It was simply not your time.

Then it dawns on you.

Oh, that’s right. There’s next year and, yes, two big dates to circle on the calendar.

The record will show the Mentor boys’ basketball team didn’t defend its Division I Region 2 title and claim its second straight trip to state competition after losing to Garfield Heights on Saturday night.

But the Cardinals will leave the Lake Erie League and join the Northeast Ohio Conference for the 2011-2012 school year and face the state’s top Division I team at least twice next season.

Nice setup, no?

“We will (get a chance next season),” Mentor coach Bob Krizancic said Saturday night. “But this was the big one.”

And so, the Cardinals’ 2010-2011 season ended.  But unfortunately, not everyone will have a chance at revenge, and in this special instance, a father will no longer coach his son.

Cole Krizancic, the coach’s senior son, ended his high school career Saturday night. Krizancic, along with junior Justin Fritts, was named to the second team of the Associated Press’ Division I All-Ohio boys’ basketball team earlier this week. Senior Collin Barth was an honorable mention. The team’s other seniors are Derek Bryner, Matt Solden, Brad Kukula and Cody Kern.

“It’s been a great ride and a great run. These are great young men as are all those seniors,” coach Krizancic said. “I think that’s a great thing about our program is that we produce really, really great young men.”

The family connections will still have meaning in the program next year as Connor Krizancic, the coach’s freshman son, will now carry the family’s honor on the basketball court. Justin’s freshman brother, Brandon, will be there, too.

However, it’s likely several of this year’s Cardinals will not play a competitive game with each other again or hear their coaches bellowing strategy at them with great care and encouragement beneath every instruction.

But what they’ll all have are the memories of a lifetime, which will include this season of promise that was nearly fulfilled with the ultimate journey to a championship before the No. 1 team in Division I play cut it short.

Nonetheless, this year’s LEL Lake Division champions have much to look back upon. The Cardinals won their fourth straight district title and defeated nemesis Brush, 76-67, on March 12 for the fourth straight time in district play, including three straight in the district finals.  Mentor also clipped the Arcs during the regular season in January.

The Cardinals got off to a hot start, winning their first four games of the season, but coach Krizancic felt the team truly gathered itself against highly regarded national competition  in the Arby’s Classic in Tennessee during the Christmas holiday season. They went 3-1 and lost to Columbia of Georgia.

Although the Cardinals dipped slightly with two consecutive losses against St. Vincent-St. Mary and Shaker Heights after the Arby’s Classic, the Cardinals hit their stride, winning 14 of 15 games before losing to Garfield Heights. The 2009-2010 regional champions’ only loss during that stretch came against St. Edward, 108-105, in their final home game of the season on Feb. 19.

For certain, senior Barth, a transfer from Olmsted Falls this season, leaves Mentor’s athletic program with fond memories and lasting relationships.

“Having people around me like this that have the types of work ethic and decision making, they’re great people especially coach K who’s been like a father figure to me throughout this entire transition. He’s done so much for me and all the coaches and all the players.”