How to beat Northland?
By Joe Scalzo
Canton Timken coach may have the answer
Rick Hairston’s Trojans have been the only team to beat Columbus Northland this season.
As Columbus Northland steamrolled through its schedule this winter, outscoring opponents by 21 points per game, only one team found a way to win: Canton Timken.
So, how did the Trojans do it?
“They’re a rock-solid basketball team,” said Timken coach Rick Hairston, whose team beat the Vikings 67-61 on Jan. 31. “We just happened to make a few more plays.”
Modesty aside, there is a way to stop the state’s top-ranked team and Hairston found the formula. That formula didn’t work against Harding — Timken lost to the Raiders 70-60 on Jan. 17.
Of course, Harding’s win over Timken came before senior guard Sheldon Brogdon was lost for the season with an ACL injury.
“The thing that impresses me most about Harding is they were able to regroup after Sheldon’s knee injury,” said Hairston, the only coach to face both teams this season. “I attribute that to Steve [Arnold, Harding’s coach] holding things together. Sheldon was the quarterback of that team and anytime you lose your quarterback, it throws things off-kilter a little bit.
“Fred [Williams] has done a good job of stepping in there and they have a lot of kids stepping up taking responsibility for their role. Forget schemes. Anytime kids go in there and do their job, you have a chance to win.”
The Raiders will need that effort — and a lot more — to beat Northland, which boasts this year’s Mr. Basketball, junior Jared Sullinger, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound monster who has already committed to Ohio State.
“In my opinion, Jared Sulinger is a one-year-in-college-and-done kid,” said Hairston. “His basketball IQ is so high it’s just like having a coach on the floor. If you need him to bring the ball up the floor, he’ll do that. If you need him to get down on the block and get baskets, he’ll do that. If you ask him to rebound or defend the other team’s best player, he’ll do that.
“There’s a reason he’s probably going to be the No. 1-ranked player in the country next year. He can do just about anything.”
OK, so how do you stop Sullinger and the Vikings?
In Hairston’s view, Harding must do four things.
UGet the ball out of Trey Burke’s hands.
Harding must pressure Burke, a promising sophomore who is also Northland’s best outside shooting threat, and force Sullinger to leave the paint.
“If Burke wasn’t running the offense, Sullinger had to be at the top of the key handling the ball,” said Hairston. “If he’s at the top of the key, he’s not down on the block scoring.
“That made a lot of sense to us.”
UShoot well.
“I think Warren Harding is a better outside-shooting team,” said Hairston. “That’s the one knock on Northland — they don’t really shoot the ball well on the perimeter.”
URun.
“Northland is so big, they want to make it a half-court game and just pound you,” said Hairston. “I think, athletically, Warren Harding at the guard positions is a little better. If they can in some kind of way make it a running game, I’d say the advantage goes to Harding.”
UGet a big game from senior guard Desmar Jackson.
“Desmar is probably one of the premier players in the state,” Hairston said. “I’m really curious to see who [Northland] will match up with Desmar. On any given night, he can give you 20-25 points a game.”
So, who’s going to win? Hairston didn’t say.
But he did make one prediction.
“I think people are going to be treated to a great high school basketball game,” he said. “It’s going to be really interesting to see how the two teams play.”
scalzo@vindy.com