Fox Chapel basketball player Kelly leaving for prep school in Cleveland

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, August 28, 2018 | 8:09 PM

Ben Kelly considered the prep school route for basketball in his past, but it wasn’t until one began pursuing him that he fully committed to the possibility and went for it.

Kelly, a guard who would have been Fox Chapel’s leading returning scorer this season, instead enrolled for his senior year at Andrews Osborne Academy in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where he’ll play a national basketball schedule with the International Sports Academy.

“I had a great three years at Fox Chapel: loved the coaches, loved the players and everything that was going on there,” Kelly said. “It just didn’t offer the same exposure level of play that this does, so that was a big reason. But also the academics, this is known to be a very high academic school. Most of the schools I’m looking to go to next year are high academic schools, as well, so I feel like this gave me the best chance to get into the schools.”

The ISA coaches saw Kelly at a tournament this summer with his AAU team, PK Flash, and began following his progress after that. He said a major determining factor was a new level of exposure he’ll get.

ISA offers year-round training and will begin games in November, with national tournaments like the Flyin’ to the Hoop invitational in Dayton, Ohio.

“They were after me pretty hard to come, and when I saw what they had to offer, it was kind of hard to turn down,” Kelly said.

The 6-foot-1 Kelly, who averaged 15 points and led Fox Chapel in 3-pointers made as a junior with more than 60, is looking at high-academic Division III schools and also is receiving some Ivy League interest.

“I wish him nothing but the best of luck moving forward,” Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar said. “I appreciated what he did for his time at Fox Chapel and what he did for the program. I’m a huge fan of his.”

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

Tags: Fox Chapel