Willoughby Earns Lorain County Mr. Basketball Award, Reflects on Career

To say its been a whirlwind of a year for Avon Lake's Ronnie Willoughby might be an understatement.

On Sunday the icing on the cake came, as he became just the fifth  player to be named Lorain County's Mr. Basketball. Shoremen Craig Bradley (1991), Frank Bolognia (1992), Brian Ingleright (2001) and Tom Port (2002) ahve also earned the award.

"When you see the players who have won it, some have gone on to play at Division I colleges, its a huge honor," Willoughby said. "We had a fun season, a lot of our players on the team received some pretty big awards, so we are happy with our awards. Personally, this doesn't change how our season ended, we would have liked to have done better, but it does make me feel a little better."

The Shoremen had one of the more memorable season's in school history, reeling off 19 consecutive wins and taking home a share of the SWC title, something a boys basketball team has not done since 1994.

Willoughby, who averaged 18.1 points per game, along with six rebounds, was named First Team All-Northeast District. He also repeated as Lorain County player of the year and received SWC first-team honors.

But he also achieved two other milestones: He set a new record for scoring and hit the for his career.

"My dad actually brought it up to me, and I remember as a sophomore I was looking at that number, and I thought getting 300 points in a season, I'm not sure if that is possible," Willoughby said. "So when I hit that number, it was unbelievable. Coach Smith told me I was 40 points away with three games left, so once I knew I was going to get that, I was thrilled. It was unbelievable."

His effort in a on Jan. 14, where he set the school record for scoring in a game was just as unbelievable. He scored 46 points on a night made even more special because it was his mother’s birthday.

"That was a lot of fun," Willoughby said of the feat. "Every once in a while as a basketball player you get your shot down, and I guess you could say are feeling it, and that's the way I felt that night. My teammates were great that game too."

In addition to winning his award, Willoughby played in the Lorain County All-Star game on March 27 along with his teammate Dan Reichlin. Willoughby said being on the court one last time with Reichlin was a blast as was teaming up with guys he had played against.

On the night, Willoughby had 12 points, while grabbing eight rebounds.

That all-star team was coached by Eric Smith, who was tabbed this year’s Lorain County Division I Coach of the Year and All-District Coach of the Year.

"He really deserved it, he made the team much better," Willoughby said. “It was definitely fun with coach and being with your teammates again," Willoughby said. "We only had eight kids that were healthy. People were really rusty, just two weeks after the season ended, it was kind of funny, but we had fun especially with coach being there."

Willoughby has one more basketball game to play, the prestigious Ohio North South game which will be held in Columbus, something he is looking forward to.”  

"It's pretty awesome, I was shocked when I heard that," Willoughby said. "It's the best high school all-star game you can get into besides the high school all-America game, so I am really honored to get into that game."

After that it’s all about football since he is taking his talents to the University of Buffalo as a scholarship player where he is hoping to make the traveling squad as a freshman. The multi-sport athlete was a standout wide receiver for the Shoremen football team. In 2010-11 he caught 17 touchdown passes and punted for Avon Lake.

"I'm going to definitely miss basketball; I've been playing since AAU and have always played year round, so I'm going to miss it," Willoughby said. "I'm hoping to be one of the 10 to 12 freshman they call in early, but I won't know until April 20 or so. I'm preparing with lifting for now, and when I'm there I plan on doing some punting too.”