Poland, Harding delayed one day

By Pete Mollica

The Bulldogs and Raiders have scrimmaged their
Sunday opponents.

The Poland High and Warren Harding High basketball teams will be very familiar with their opponents in their regional championship games this weekend.

The undefeated Bulldogs (24-0) will meet Cleveland Benedictine in the Division II regional title game Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Canton Civic Center. The Raiders (22-1) will take on Lakewood St. Edward (20-4) Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Division I championship game at Cleveland State University.

Because of wintry weather, both games were rescheduled from today.

Last November both Poland and Harding scrimmaged against Benedictine and St. Edward and both are pretty familiar with what they are going to face in the title games.

“They totally dominated us in that November scrimmage,” said Harding coach Steve Arnold of the Eagles. “They just physically beat us up good. We didn’t play very well at all.”

Since that scrimmage the Eagles have lost two of their talented starters, including 6-foot-8 senior Delvon Roe, who has already committed to play at Michigan State next season. Roe and guard Alex Sterba both sustained season-ending knee injuries within weeks of each other.

“Roe got hurt in the second or third game of the season and they’ve played all year without him,” Arnold said. “You talk about a sound program, they lose three starters off last year’s state semifinalist team and they are still back in the regional title game.”

St. Edward also lost its starting point guard from last year, who transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

With Roe out, the Eagles depend on 6-10 senior Tom Pritchard, an Indiana University recruit.

“He’s a wide body and he’s not going to Indiana for nothing,” Arnold said.

The Raiders have plenty of their own firepower, led by 6-8 senior Chris Henderson, who scored 30 points in Wednesday’s 88-61 win over Mentor.

“Chris is very capable of doing that,” Arnold said. “He’s the one who makes this team go.”

Poland coach Ken Grisdale also remembers his team’s November scrimmage against Benedictine.

“It was a very competitive scrimmage,” Grisdale said. “They hurt us at times with their athleticism, but they also made some mistakes that we were able to capitalize on.

“Benedictine is an extremely talented team,” Grisdale said. “They’ve got a sophomore [Cameron Wright] who has already committed to Ohio State, but I think sophomore Derek Jackson might be the best player on the team.”

“They are very athletic, but they also make a lot of mistakes, which might be to our advantage,” he said.

Poland defeated the Bengals a year ago in the regional final, 69-58.

The Bulldogs had their hands full against Perry on Thursday night before winning, 67-60. Benedictine (19-5) defeated Akron Hoban, 62-53.

“Staying alive is the name of the game at this point in the season,” Grisdale said. “You know that these teams wouldn’t be here if they weren’t any good. Our motto all along in the tournament has been to take things one game at a time.”

The winners of these games will advance to the state tournament next week in Columbus. Poland’s state semifinal game would be March 13 at 2 p.m., and Harding would play March 14 at 5:15 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com