Columbus Northland’s Sullinger captures Mr. Basketball for 2009

COLUMBUS (AP) — Jared Sullinger should send his father a thank-you note. Without him, and the painful decision he made as both a coach and a dad, Jared might not be the 2009 Associated Press Mr. Basketball winner.

It was just over a year ago when Columbus Northland, with Jared scoring almost 19 points a game and his father Satch handling things as the head coach, carried a 21-0 record into a district semifinal game.

Things couldn’t be much better for a kid, a family, a school, right?

But then Satch Sullinger and school administrators noticed that his son wasn’t doing his schoolwork and wasn’t applying himself in class. Jared had been warned before, but hadn’t paid attention. There seemed to be only one way to get the point across: Satch sat his son down for a game.

In that game Northland lost 67-59 to Westerville South, sidelining the state’s No. 2 team and “humbling” Jared, as his father put it at the time.

From that ignominy, however, bloomed a remarkable turnaround. Yes, the 6-foot-9 Jared averaged 19.9 points and 14.8 rebounds a game in this, his junior season. Yes, Northland rocketed to a 25-1 record this season, along the way winning the AP state poll title.

But, what is more important, Jared’s grade-point average this year is around a 3.2.

Tough love created a Mr. Basketball with some perspective.

“Last year I messed up with grades and we lost that game,” Jared said. “That’s the most pressure I’ve ever had on me. With us losing, it was all on me if I didn’t do anything the next season, if the team didn’t do anything the next season. But I didn’t want it to be that way. I learned my lesson. I wanted to come back and have a great year and have the team go all the way to the state tournament. And here we are.”

Northland takes on Warren Harding in the semifinals on Friday night.

These are heady times at Northland. Without what happened a year ago, this lengthy trip in the tournament might never have happened.

“We never get bigger than the game itself,” said Satch. “The game was here before we were born and it’ll still be here after we’re all dead and gone. I told my three sons, and I tell all my players, ’You play the game the way you live your life.’ If you don’t give this game the total respect it deserves, it’s going to frustrate you. You dedicate yourself, then when you accomplish something the rewards will come.”

Liberty High graduate Bob Patton is the only Mahoning Valley player to earn the award, winning in 1990. Patton later played at Stanford.