Highlands’ Crise developing into all-around threat

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 | 12:45 PM

Johnny Crise has long hair, and he doesn’t care.

The formerly buzz-cutted Highlands basketball star is embracing a new look — the so-called “man bun” — along with Golden Rams teammates Seth Cohen and Daniel Thimons, in a move that began during football season.

The haircut, or lack thereof, makes the 6-foot-6 junior even harder to miss, and it marks just one change Crise is making. The still-slender wing added about 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason, bringing him up to 185, and he’s focusing on making just as significant a transformation in his game.

Already known for his jaw-dropping dunks — he boasts a highlight reel that the ground-bound would envy — the Highlands high flier is adding more elements to his game in an effort to become a more complete player.

“Definitely gaining weight was a big thing, putting on muscle,” Crise said. “I know during my AAU seasons there was a lot of big guys that I had to put weight on if I want to play at the next level. My ballhandling skills, I’ve got to be able to drive. I’ve got to be able to kick out to the next pass, to (make) the extra pass. I’ve got to learn how to shoot for the next level. There’s going to be a lot of big dudes down there. I’m not going to be able to finish over them sometimes, so I have to learn how to shoot.”

Crise’s Twitter account this summer included nearly as many videos of his shooting work with Highlands assistant coach Corey Dotchin and The Scoring Factory’s Pete Strobl as his above-the-rim exploits while playing with the ITPS Wildcats, his top-flight AAU team.

Those elements of his game remain a work in progress, but the progress is showing. Crise averaged 10.1 points as a sophomore but scored 39 in Highlands’ first two games this season.

“That’s one of those things where it’s repetition, repetition, repetition,” Highlands coach Tyler Stoczynski said. “It’s just like doing anything: You have to do it a lot, and you have to put everything into it to be successful at it. He works hard, and he’s continuing to get better.”

The AAU competition made Crise better, too. The ITPS Wildcats, which Crise joined last spring, play in the Adidas Gauntlet Gold Division, so Crise plays with and against top-level players nationally. He already has offers from Robert Morris and South Carolina Upstate and is talking to several other Division I programs.

“The Wildcats, they have such good players that are playing at the next level that, this year that I played with them, I kind of sat back and I watched what some players were doing, just gathered all the information, took as much as I could in and put it into my game.

“I always keep in the back of my head, rise up.”

Indeed, which is why the dunks won’t go away anytime soon, either. Twice in a 90-second span of a recent practice Crise threw down a dunk on a fast break. The first came on an alley-oop, and the second Crise took care of himself after a steal.

So yes, this Ram will still slam, which he’s been able to do since a game against Freeport in middle school — “It was a little off one leg, little rim graze, but one of the best moments of my life,” he said. — He worked his way up from a dodgeball, to a volleyball, to a girls basketball, finally to a regulation basketball.

“Every time I jump up in the air, you know, I kind of get a glimpse of that in a game,” he said. “That little image in the back of my head. Every time I step on the court, I get that same feeling to that first time I ever did it.”

Those plays mean more than two points on the scoreboard, as they bring energy to the rest of the players on the court.

“Whether it’s in school or just hanging out, Johnny’s always lively,” Crise said. “I think that’s why he attracts a lot of people to him, and people want to be around him. We talk to our guys about, ‘Are you giving energy or taking energy?’ And he’s making sure he’s giving enough for two people.”

With Crise and fellow junior Luke Cochran the only two returning starters from Highlands’ WPIAL semifinal team, Crise is taking on more of an on-court leadership role as well after learning from seniors like Shawn Erceg, Romello Freeman, Ryan Signorella and Christian Tanilli from last season’s team.

The high flier himself will help detemine if Highlands can rise to the occasion again this season.

“Our team this year is just really young,” Crise said. “Once they catch on to it, once they catch on to the program and start trusting the coaches more, I think that we’ll be pretty set.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Highlands