Ursuline reduced to practice squad in Harding game

By Joe Scalzo

WARREN — With about five minutes left in Saturday’s game against Ursuline, Warren Harding senior Desmar Jackson found himself with a clear path to the basket, so he lobbed the ball up off the backboard, grabbed it and tried to dunk it. The ball slammed against the back of the rim, flew straight up in the air and came down through the net.

“That shows how the night was going,” said Raiders coach Steve Arnold, whose team rolled to a 71-43 victory.

Harding, ranked third in Division I, finished with eight dunks — 8 1/2, if you count Jackson’s last attempt — including one by senior guard Fred Williams, who often gets teased in practice for his inability to dunk and whose successful slam Saturday had his teammates (and his coach) cracking up.

“He has not dunked in practice and he tries so hard,” said Arnold. “He tries like the dickens.”

So how did he manage on Saturday?

“Luck,” Arnold said, chuckling. “That’s what you call that.”

If it seems like the Raiders were in a pretty good mood afterward, well, that’s because they were. Harding was defensive-minded from the start, holding the Irish scoreless over the first four minutes as Ursuline began the game 0-for-8 from the field with five turnovers. The Raiders (11-0) led 23-8 after one quarter, draining the suspense from the contest.

“They’re really good,” said Ursuline coach Keith Gunther. “To be honest with you, I’ve scouted them six times and I think they’re a better basketball team than last year.

“They don’t have the size, but they’re a better all-around basketball team.”

Both coaches praised the Raiders’ unselfishness — Harding had three players in double figures and finished with 18 assists — and Arnold’s only quibble with his team was over its defensive rebounding. The Irish, who have good size, held a 51-40 edge on the boards.

Senior Sheldon Brogdon, who has committed to YSU, finished with 16 points and five rebounds for the Raiders (11-0). Jackson added 15 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists, while Williams had 15 points.

Afterward, much of the talk centered around Harding’s game with Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on Tuesday night in Warren. SVSM was 10-2 entering Saturday’s game with Euclid.

“It’s going to be a big test,” said Arnold. “Two good basketball teams. They’re big, they’re athletic and they’re long.

“We’re looking forward to it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

Senior Dominique Cole had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead Ursuline (5-6), while DeVontae Jenkins had 13 rebounds and Dakota Trosky had nine points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Dale Peterman rolled his ankle in the second half but Gunther expects him to be OK.

“Coming into our game our kids weren’t overly confident and you could see it in their demeanor as they stepped on the floor,” said Gunther. “We’ve lost three or four games in a row, you can see the attitudes out there when you’re playing.

“We’ve got to get more competitive. We’ve got to get a lot tougher.”

The Irish have had to deal with a lot of turmoil over the last month — the roster looks a lot different than it did at the beginning of the year — but Gunther thinks the team can get it together by tournament time.

“We knew we’d struggle for a couple weeks here,” he said. “But it’s not always about winning, it’s about battling the other team. That’s what we’ve got to get to by March.”

scalzo@vindy.com