Ohio State a comfortable environment for top Ohio guard
KETTERING, Ohio -- One of Ohio's top basketball prospects, class of 2021 Garfield Heights point guard Meechie Johnson, showed why he is getting so much early attention on Sunday evening at the Flyin' to the Hoop Invitational outside of Dayton (Ohio). The 6-foot-1 guard and his teammates did not have their 'A' game for most of the night, but Johnson led a furious comeback against Huber Heights Wayne to get a 64-62 win.
Johnson scored eight points in the game's final minute and assisted on another three-point make from his cousin Sonny Johnson Jr.
"It was a blessing to be able to come back like that," said Johnson after the game. "It was a struggle at first, but something just clicked with the team. Something clicked in our head where it was like, 'we have to step up'. Whatever it takes, let's go out there and get the win."
Garfield Heights trailed by 15 points with about four minutes left in the contest but were able to slowly whittle things down to get it to a six-point deficit with under two minutes to play.
"We practice moments like these in practice," he continued. "Where we're down and we have to come back. I just needed to motivate my team and tell them, 'hey, we're good' and we all had to buy in that no matter what the score is, it's always 0-0 to us."
From there, Johnson took over. He hit a long three, setup another three, and then shook a defender and hit yet another triple to tie the game. But it wasn't finished. He would then race back on defense, get a steal, and go coast-to-coast to put his team ahead with the final seconds ticking off.
"I just wanted to make sure that I got back on D," he recalled. "I went back and got the steal and just came back down and scored."
The big-time scorer holds an early offer from Ohio State and is hearing from many of the nation's top programs.
"Ohio State, Louisville, Florida, Georgetown, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and some MAC schools like Miami (Ohio)," he stated, on which schools are recruiting him right now.
Ohio State has been aggressive in its pursuit. Assistant coach Ryan Pedon was on hand to watch Johnson on Sunday and Johnson will return the favor on Wednesday.
"I'm going there again on Wednesday (for the Purdue game)," he explained. "Coach Pedon, he's a great guy. Coach Holtmann, also a great guy. They treat me like family when I come and it's just a great program to be around."