By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Johnny Trivisonno’s vertical leap measures at an impressive 39.8 inches.

In the Friday’s most critical moment, he needed every last tenth of an inch.

With just 6 seconds remaining, the Aurora boys basketball senior standout finished a highly contested layup at the rim for a game-winner that completed a thrilling comeback win for the Greenmen over the visiting Kent Roosevelt Rough Riders.

“Johnny is a really explosive player, and he has been in a lot of big moments for us in his career,” Aurora head coach Cody Calhoun said.

Friday’s clutch basket was the second game-winning shot of his career, joining one that lifted the Greenmen over Cuyahoga Falls last year.

Friday’s moment could have very easily never happened, though.

“Johnny rolled his ankle pretty good on Tuesday, and we weren’t sure what he was going to be able to give us,” Calhoun said. “But he told me he was not going to miss this game and that he was going to play. He taped up his ankle, wore a brace and played like a real leader tonight.”

The game’s final minute included a sequence of back-and-forth plays that led to a fourth quarter that featured five lead changes and three ties.

Roosevelt’s Tyler Ellington hit a pair of tough layups on consecutive possessions, with the second putting the Riders ahead 41-40 with less than a minute to play.

A turnover in transition by Aurora gave the ball back to Roosevelt, forcing Aurora to foul to stop the clock.

The Greenmen, however, were far from the five-foul bonus, resulting in three straight fouls.

After the third foul, Roosevelt’s ensuing inbounds pass was bobbled out of bounds to give possession back to Aurora (3-2, 3-1 Suburban League) with 14 seconds left.

Following an Aurora timeout, Luke Hilditch passed the ball in to Trivisonno on the left wing and before teammate Gui Goedert could come set a designed ball screen, Trivisonno made a strong drive to his left, turned the corner and elevated against a pair of Riders defenders to score the winning layup.

Roosevelt’s final play was disrupted and it never got a shot off before time expired.

Aurora had trailed by as many as 10 (16-6) in the first quarter, but slowly worked itself back into the game.

Most notably with a resurgent second-half gameplan to take advantage of its height in the post, with Goedert and Luke Bonnete both becoming the focal points of the team’s offense with calm, strong plays around the rim on passes designed to maximize scoring opportunities.

“In the first half, offensively, I thought that the ball did not move quite as well as it should. Then, when we got shots inside, I thought we did not go up with it strong, and overall, we were just hesitant,” Calhoun said. “Everything seemed a step slow. In the third quarter, Gui got on a roll and the team got the ball to him.”

Goedert scored a team-high 14 points in the game, with 12 of them coming in the second half. He was 7-of-13 from the floor and added six rebounds and five assists for an all-around performance.

Bonnette added six point, nine rebounds, two steals and also took two charges.

Trivisonno was the only other Aurora player in double figures with 10 points.

Elliongton led Roosevelt (1-5, 0-4 Suburban League) in scoring with a game-high 15 points, while E.J. Churn had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Cyler Foreman added nine points for the Rough Riders.

Friday’s tightly contested game marked the fourth straight of its kind between the Greenmen and Riders.

     • Jan. 23, 2024: Aurora, 53-50

     • Dec. 13, 2024: Kent Roosevelt, 59-51 in double-overtime

     • Jan. 17, 2025: 62-59, Aurora

“I am really proud of the team tonight. At one point tonight, it would have been really easy for them to hang their heads. We were down double-digits, we were not playing well, we were not seeing the ball go through the hoop, we were coming off a loss on Tuesday, but they stayed tough both mentally and physically and they made winning plays.”