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Harding overcome by Northland’s strength in semifinal
Gallery
By Joe Scalzo
Harding overcome by Northland’s strength in 73-59 semifinal loss
COLUMBUS — Less than an hour before Friday’s game, as Columbus Northland’s players warmed up on the Value City Arena floor, Warren Harding assistant coach Rich Chapman turned to head coach Steve Arnold and said, “Steve, they’re bigger than we thought.”
Better, too.
Making their first trip to Columbus in 43 years, the undersized Raiders had no answer for the Vikings’ two biggest (and, unfortunately, two best) players, falling 73-59 in front of 13,997 fans in a Division I state semifinal.
“We looked at it as speed versus power,” said Arnold. “Tonight, the power won out.”
Led by 6-foot-8, 260-pound junior Jared Sullinger, an Ohio State recruit who was named Mr. Basketball earlier in the week, Northland dominated the paint, shooting 18-of-23 from the floor in the first half en route to a 40-27 halftime lead.
“Maybe 28 or 30 of those points were in the paint,” said Arnold. “That’s the ball game, basically.”
Sullinger had 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Vikings (26-1), who will meet Cincinnati Princeton/Toledo St. John’s Jesuit in tonight’s state final. Junior JD Weatherspoon, a Xavier recruit, added 25 points (on 11-1of-12 shooting) and eight rebounds as the Vikings rolled up a 37-18 edge on the boards.
“We feed off each other,” Sullinger said of Weatherspoon. “Without one, there’s not the other.”
Harding senior Desmar Jackson, a Wyoming recruit, scored 29 points with five rebounds, five steals and four blocks for the Raiders (23-3), whose only other state appearance came in 1966. Warren Western Reserve also advanced in 1989.
“Desmar is a prime-time player,” said Arnold. “He proved that tonight. He was on the big stage and he kept us in it the best he could.”
Arnold entered the game with, he thought, the perfect game plan. The Raiders planned to push the tempo on defense and make it a baseline-to-baseline game. And when Northland did get into a half-court set, the Raiders were going double down on Sullinger in the paint and force him to kick it out to Northland’s suspect shooters.
It looked good on paper. But right away, the Vikings had an answer.
“The first shot, Sullinger hit a 3,” said Arnold. “And it was like, ‘Oh man, here we go.’ ”
Northland never trailed, jumping out to a 22-9 advantage after the first quarter. Not much changed in the second quarter, but the Raiders regrouped at halftime.
“At halftime we said we’re just gonna play small ball,” said Arnold. “Trap everywhere, open the post and make Jared come out and defend a small guy.
“That was the adjustment we made. Take the bigs out, run a trap and make it into a playground game.”
It worked ... for a little while. The Raiders cut their deficit to eight several times in the third quarter — the last being 51-43 with 1:07 left — but got no closer.
“We told the players to keep fighting, keep fighting,”We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Arnold called Northland the best team he’s played this season and Vikings coach Satch Sullinger — Jared’s father — called it the best game his team played in the tournament.
“I think the engine is starting to purr a little bit,” he said. “We looked like a machine out there today, at periods.”
Still, as good as Northland looked, Harding’s fans will back at this game and wonder, “What if?”
Although Jackson is the team’s most talented player, senior guard Sheldon Brogdon had been its most valuable over the past two years.
Arnold called Brogdon “the heart and soul of our team” and the YSU recruit was averaging nearly 20 points per game before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the 12th game of the season.
It may not have made a difference in the final outcome, but the Raiders would likely have been more competitive had Brogdon been running on the floor instead of sitting on the bench with crutches at his side.
“You can’t think about ‘What if?’ in this game,” said Arnold. “Sheldon hasn’t been with us since Game [12]. Even though he’s a big part of our program, we played [14] games without him.
“Our kids ... adjusted to life without him and moved on.”
Junior guard Fred Williams, who stepped up his play in Brogdon’s absence, had 11 points and junior forward Angel Gonzalez added nine points for Harding.
Those two will be the foundation for next season.
“We’ve had some pretty good success over the last three or four years in the program,” said Arnold, who is 134-30 in seven years at Harding. “I think Warren’s become a little bit of a basketball town, moreso than a football town right now.
“Football’s big, but I think we’re on the map a little bit with our basketball program. It’s not just a team; we have a program now.”
The Mahoning Valley hasn’t had a boys basketball state champion since 1994. Even though the Raiders weren’t able to break that streak, Arnold said he was proud of what his players accomplished.
“I think when all is said and done, they’ll see how special this was to get down here,” he said.
scalzo@vindy.com