Monday, March 23, 2009
By Joe Scalzo
The Raiders are in the state tournament despite losing one of their best players.
On Jan. 31, the No. 1-ranked Warren Harding High boys basketball team trounced Ursuline 71-43 to improve to 11-0.
Afterward, Irish coach Keith Gunther said this:
“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.”
Three days later, Raiders senior Sheldon Brogdon suffered a season-ending ACL injury against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. It seemed like the latest bit of bad luck for a program that, over the last decade, could never make the jump from good to elite.
But the Raiders recovered to win their first regional title in 43 years thanks to three things: defense, experience and chemistry.
They’ll need all three against No. 1-ranked Columbus Northland in Friday’s Div. I state semifinal.
UDefense
Since Harding coach Steve Arnold was hired seven years ago, he’s preached the need for his team to play good defense and give a strong effort for four quarters.
That message took hold last season and was fully ingrained this winter as Harding held opponents to 54 points per game despite losing its top two post players from last season to graduation.
Since the tournament began, no opponent has topped 60 points. And Harding held North Ridgeville to just 38 in the regional final, which included a scoreless stretch of almost eight minutes from the end of the third quarter to late in the fourth.
For the game, Harding forced 20 turnovers — a huge number considering the Rangers’ goal was to play half-court basketball — with 15 of those coming off steals.
“We wanted to bring pressure in various ways and try to confuse them a little bit,” said Arnold, who is 134-29 in his career. “We made them [North Ridgeville] play baseline-to-baseline for four quarters and I thought they were laboring a little a bit toward the end.”
The Raiders aren’t big — 6-foot-7 junior Oneal Brown is the only one above 6-5 — but they’ve used their athleticism to overcome a big size difference in three of their four games in the district and regional tournament. Ridgeville had 6-10 Miami (Ohio) recruit Drew McGhee and gave 6-7 senior Jason Ice his first start of the season. Lakewood St. Edward in the regional semifinal had 6-10 sophomore James Price. And Cleveland Heights started 6-8 Reginald Keely and 6-9 Ryan Martin Yates.
UExperience
Harding won its first district title in 13 years last season, but that stat was a bit misleading. For years, the Raiders seemed doomed to the state’s toughest district, matching up with Canton McKinley when the Bulldogs were dominant, then getting switched to the Warrensville Heights district when several Cleveland-area teams emerged.
Harding’s mental toughness was on display against St. Edward when it fought back from a 13-point second half deficit, outscoring the young Eagles 17-9 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
North Ridgeville had never before played in a regional final and was outscored 19-8 in the fourth quarter of a 53-38 loss.
U Chemistry
When Brogdon went down, the Raiders lost 17.5 points per game. But they didn’t lose their leader, as he spent the last few weeks building their belief and confidence.
“I’ve been talking to them and texting them every day telling them they could do it, trying to encourage them,” he said after Saturday’s win.
Junior guard Fred Williams stepped into Brogdon’s role and has been huge over the last month.
Senior Desmar Jackson is undoubtedly the team’s best player, but Williams and junior Angel Gonzalez are almost as important.
“We knew we had to gel a little bit when lost Sheldon,” said Williams, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the final. “Everyone had to grow up a little bit and come up bigger.
“We had to play as a team to win these big games.”
Brogdon had knee surgery less than two weeks ago and wasn’t able to attend Thursday’s game against St. Edward.
So the Raiders took a bus to Brogdon’s house beforehand. He made it to the final and, when the Raiders won the regional title, they brought Brogdon onto the court to share in the celebration.
“I’d rather be on the court, but it’s OK,” said Brogdon, who is facing a seventh-month recovery. “I’ll let my team do it.”
scalzo@vindy.com