Johnson is the son of 1998 Ohio Mr. Basketball William “Sonny” Johnson, making them the first father-son duo to win the honor.
The younger Johnson will be presented with his award Friday afternoon during the Division IV state championship game at UD Arena.
The other finalists this year were Delphos St. John’s junior Cam Elwer, Olentangy Orange senior Devin Brown, Steubenville senior Aiden Davis and Brunswick junior Trey Drexler.
Johnson won the award with 110 points from the statewide panel. Elwer was the runner-up with 48 points and Brown - whose team will play Saturday night for the Division I state championship at UD Arena - placed third in the voting with 43 points.
Johnson is the No. 29 prospect in 247Sports Composite national rankings for the class of 2026 and trails only Anthony Thompson among prospects in Ohio.
Thompson, a Lebanon native who now plays for Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, is a five-star prospect ranked No. 12 nationally.
Johnson is already a three-time member of the All-Ohio first team and now the first player from the Cleveland area to be named Mr. Basketball since 2000 when Chet Mason of Cleveland South and Tony Stockman of Medina shared the honor.
He is set to be the 14th Ohio Mr. Basketball to play for Ohio State since the award began in 1988.
Future Buckeye Jimmy Jackson of Toledo Macomber won the first two and was later followed by two-time winner Greg Simpson of Lima Senior (1991-92), Damon Stringer of Cleveland Heights ’95), Stockman, Jamar Butler (Lima Shawnee, 2004), Jon Diebler (Upper Sandusky, 2007), William Buford (2008), Jared Sullinger (Columbus Northland, 2009-10), Marc Loving (Toledo St. John’s, 2013), Kaleb Wesson (Westerville South, 2017), Malaki Branham (Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, 2021), Devin Royal (Pickerington Central, 2023) and Colin White (Ottawa-Glandorf, 2024).
Ohio’s Mr. Basketball has come from a different region four years in a row with Johnson representing Northeast Ohio, White coming from the Northwest district, Royal from the Central district and Centerville’s Gabe Cupps (2022) from the Southwest.
The last (and only) Southeast Ohio winner was Geno Ford of Cambridge in 1993.
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