WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Jamie Kohn, who captained the Coventry High School boys’ basketball team to an undefeated regular season last year, has enrolled at Eastern Connecticut State University with the intent of continuing his basketball career and majoring in Health and Physical Education.

The 6-foot-4 inch, 200-pound Kohn averaged 20.8 points and 10.4 rebounds last year at Coventry, leading the Patriots to the 14-team North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC) regular season and playoff titles, 24 consecutive wins, and a final record of 24-1. He was one of 15 first-team picks to the Hartford Courant All-State Team, was named honorable mention All-State by the New Haven Register, first-team CHSCA Class “S” All-State, and MVP of the CHSCA Senior All-Star Game (22 points/11 rebounds).

In the classroom, Kohn was named to the area all-academic three times, and to the Class “S” Academic All-State Team as a senior, when he was also selected Coventry’s Male Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year. He graduated third in his high school senior class of 150. A member of the National Honor Society, Kohn received a Dean’s Scholarship and has been accepted into the Honors Program at Eastern.

“We’re very excited to have Jamie with us,” noted Eastern seventh-year head coach Bill Geitner. “Any time you have a quality student-athlete like Jamie join your program, it’s a plus.”

While he contemplated the choices provided by a number of other colleges, Kohn indicated that his top two priorities were finding a college near his home, and one which offered a degree in Physical Education. “Those were my two criteria, so it made the (selection) process easier. All along, I pretty much knew that I was going to go to Eastern,” noted Kohn, who was born in Oberndorf, Austria before his family eventually settled permanently in Columbia when he was 13 years old. “I’ve always been very comfortable here. I love the campus and the location. The school had everything that I wanted. Besides basketball, it has a great physical education program.”

An inside/outside player, Kohn led the Patriots to a No. 10 ranking in the final regular-season poll (prior to the CIAC tournament) last year and to a top seed in the Class “S” state tournament. In the conference, Kohn ranked first in scoring and rebounding and was second in blocks and steals en route to conference MVP laurels. As a senior, he scored a Coventry record 520 points and completed his three-year high school varsity career with 963 points and nearly 600 rebounds.

In the state tournament last year, Coventry defeated Wamogo Regional of Litchfield in its first game before falling to Coginchaug Regional in overtime, 49-42. Kohn scored 28 of the team’s points in the loss and grabbed eight rebounds. He broke a tie by hitting a three-point field goal with 2:28 left in regulation, but the Blue Devils forced overtime by converting an off-balance 20-foot three-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation.

The Patriots, who featured seven seniors last year, maintained their undefeated streak by winning eight games despite trailing heading into the fourth quarter. Against defending champion Avon in the conference tournament championship game, Kohn rallied the Patriots back from eight points down with three minutes left by scoring 15 of his team’s final 18 points

As a senior, Kohn was ranked ninth in the state in scoring and was rated as the state’s No. 8 best player by zippersports.com. In a story detailing Coventry’s win over Avon in the NCCC tournament title game last February, Kohn was described by Hartford Courant writer Tom Puleo as “one of the state’s best-kept secrets.”

As a junior, Kohn led the Patriots in virtually every individual statistical category, including scoring (14.4 ppg.), rebounding (7.3 rpg.), assists (5.5 apg.), steals (2.0) and three-pointers (34). He ranked fifth in the NCCC in scoring that season for Coventry, which posted a 14-8 record. The team’s sixth man as a sophomore, Kohn helped Coventry win the final Charter Oak Conference regular season and tournament titles, coming off the bench in the tournament championship game against Cromwell by scoring all 14 of his points in the second half.

Kohn feels that he can make an immediate impact in the Eastern basketball program, which graduated only two seniors: All-Little East Conference forward Leon Martin (the team leader in scoring and rebounding) and center Kevin Zalucki (the team leader in field goal percentage and second-leading rebounder).

“Jamie provides us with so many intangibles,” said Geitner. “He has the ability to play both the guard and forward positions for us. If he’s on the perimeter, he gives us the height that we missed last year. I think that with his ability to score and rebound, along with his basketball IQ, he’s going to make us a better team.”

“At Eastern, I feel that I have a chance to be a big part of the team right away,” offered Kohn. “I’d rather play at a smaller school (like Eastern) and get a lot of playing time, rather than going to a big school, and waiting to play. There’s a lot of talent on the team,” he maintains. “and I think that we have a chance to compete (in the conference).”

Kohn, who has gotten to know many of the current and former Eastern players through pickup games in recent years, says that he “will focus on defense this year. I feel that my height gives me an advantage in that I can defend both forwards and guards.”

At Eastern, Kohn will join former Coventry High teammate MarkBorysewicz, a 6-foot-5 inch center and two-year member of the Eastern program who appeared in seven games off the bench as a sophomore last year,

Under Geitner last year, the Warriors finished 13-13 (6-8 in the conference) and were eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament.


                                                          -30-