Former Lake City, Idaho star Mitchell transfers to Ohio

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

In the end, former Lake City High star Kolton Mitchell decided it was time to move on. 

“It was very hard to leave Idaho,” said Mitchell, who opted to enter the transfer portal after two seasons with the Vandals, and signed a letter of intent with Ohio University, a Mid-American Conference school in Athens, Ohio. 

“Those coaches did so much for me and I created great relationships with everyone in that program that I’ll always be grateful for,” Mitchell said of Idaho. “But I also think it was time for me to move on and get out of the state of Idaho, because I think it is what’s best for my basketball career and to get a head start at life. I also accomplished everything that I wanted to at the University of Idaho and so I thought it was time to move on.”

Ohio University announced Mitchell’s signing in a news release Thursday. 

"We are excited to add Kolton to our men's basketball family," said Jeff Boals, who became Ohio’s head coach in 2019. "He helped lead his team to the NCAA Tournament last year and was an integral part of their success, leading his team in scoring and assists. He's a high character young man and will make an immediate impact."  

Mitchell, a 6-foot-1 point guard, helped Idaho reach the NCAA tournament this past season for the first time since 1990. 

Mitchell, who had offers from eight NCAA Division I schools, said he decided to transfer from Idaho to “be able to get better player development, better resources, and then also funding for our players and for the program.” 

“The reason why I chose Ohio is, they’ve had great history with point guards and developing point guards — every single point guard under coach Boals has been an all-conference guard,” Mitchell added. “Their numbers go up every year so the development was very intriguing for me. Also, the basketball program is really big there and they’ve got support from the whole town, so that was important to me.” 

Ohio finished 15-17 last season. In their final regular-season game, the Bobcats nearly handed Miami (Ohio) its first loss before falling 110-108 in overtime. 

Ohio last made the NCAA Tournament in 2021.

At Idaho, Mitchell was a two-year starter, starting 65 of the 66 games he played in. This past season he averaged 13.7 points and 3.8 assists per game and earned Big Sky Conference honorable mention. He was named to the Big Sky all-tournament team after averaging 14.5 points and 5.3 rebounds as the Vandals won four tourney games in five days. He had a team-high 14 points in No. 15 seed Idaho’s loss to No. 2 Houston in the first round of the NCAAs. 

As a redshirt freshman in 2024-25, Mitchell averaged 12.4 points and 3.6 assists per game. 

Mitchell, who helped Lake City to an undefeated state title in 2023 and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,614 points, began his collegiate career at Idaho State, where his season was cut short after 10 games due to a finger injury, and he received a medical redshirt. 

Mitchell, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, also had offers from Rhode Island, Fresno State, Seattle U, Northern Iowa, UC San Diego, Pacific and Bowling Green. He also received recruiting interest from Missouri, Boston College and UC Davis. 

Jake Ness, son of former Kootenai Health CEO Jon Ness, is director of basketball operations at Ohio.