Northland survives to win another district title

During the first season of the post-Jared Sullinger era, the Northland (Columbus) boys basketball team figured out a way to make it to its fourth Division I regional tournament in five seasons last Friday.

But it wasn't easy. Even as the Vikings were being handed a district championship trophy following their 65-62 victory over Westerville Central (Westerville) in the Columbus Fairgrounds Coliseum, most of their players' faces didn't have smiles on them.

Instead, because of unspecified in-house issues, the Vikings spent the weekend regrouping as they prepared to play Lincoln (Gahanna) in a regional semifinal Wednesday at the Fairgrounds.

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"(Central) gave us their all," said senior Trey Burke, a Michigan signee. "We've got another game and we're going to pick it back up and be a family again."

Burke finished with 19 points, including making two free throws with 8.1 seconds to go that helped seal the victory.

Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott, a pair of 6-foot-8 juniors who have received interest from several Division I colleges, finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Northland, which was seeded second for the district tournament and was ranked second in the final state poll, improved to 23-1. Last season, the Vikings were the nation's top-ranked team when they lost to Lincoln 71-45 in a regional final.

"It's a good win," said Satch Sullinger, who announced earlier this month that this will be his last season as coach. "Anytime you win a district championship, it's a good one. We've won three in a row and four out of five. It's about winning. We missed free throws at the beginning of the game, but at the end of the game we knocked them down."

TWINSBURG EDGES MCKINLEY
In a matchup of the state's top two squads, the No. 1-ranked Twinsburg girls basketball team beat defending state champion McKinley (Canton) 48-39 in a Division I regional final last Friday in the Canton Civic Center.
The Tigers improved to 25-0 and will play Pickerington North in a state semifinal at 8 p.m. Friday at Ohio State.

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Malina Howard finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Nicole Carman added seven points and 12 rebounds as Twinsburg handed McKinley its only loss this season.

"This game is all we have thought about since last year," Howard told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It's been one game at a time all year, but this was the one we stared at. This was the one we wanted."

ST. FRANCIS WINS HOCKEY TITLE
The St. Francis de Sales (Toledo) hockey team beat St. Edward (Lakewood) 2-1 in overtime for the state championship last Saturday in Columbus' Nationwide Arena. The top-ranked Knights, who finish with a 34-4-1 record, took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ben Torchia 20 seconds into the game. St. Edward tied it two minutes into the second period on a Danny O'Sullivan goal. St. Francis' Matt Opblinger scored the game-winner four minutes into overtime as his team won its first championship.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Marquice Taylor, Africentric Early College (Columbus) boys basketball: Taylor scored 19 first-half points and finished with 34 to lead his team to a 62-53 victory over Bloom-Carroll (Carroll) in a Division III district final March 9. The performance helped the Nubians win their first district title since 2007.

* Jaymie Jackson, Start girls basketball: Jackson made 10 of 11 free throws and finished with 25 points to lead her team to a 60-53 victory over Midpark (Middleburg Heights) in a Division I regional final last Saturday. Start is 23-2 and will play Kettering Fairmont at 6 p.m. Friday at Ohio State in a state semifinal.

* Cole Krizancic, Mentor boys basketball: Krizancic scored 41 points to lead his team past Brush (Lyndhurst) last Saturday in a Division I district final at Euclid. The senior guard made five 3-pointers to help the Cardinals improve to 20-4.

COMING THIS WEEK
* St. Edward (Lakewood) vs. Garfield Heights boys basketball, Wednesday: Fresh off winning its 13th district championship last Saturday over Revere (Richfield), 65-62, the St. Edward boys basketball team will play No. 1-ranked Garfield Heights at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in Cleveland State's Wolstein Center. The winner plays Mentor or Berea for a regional title at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.



* Westerville Southh vs. Lakota East (Liberty Township) boys basketball, Thursday: The Westerville South boys basketball team will take a 23-1 record into its matchup at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Columbus Fairgrounds against Lakota East (Liberty Township) in a regional semifinal. The winner plays Northland or Lincoln at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the regional title. Westerville South was ranked fifth in the final state poll and is back in the regional for the second time in four seasons.

* Girls basketball state tournament, Thursday-Saturday: In addition to the Division I field which includes Twinsburg, Toledo Start, Pickerington North and Kettering Fairmont, the state tournament for Divisions II, III and IV also will be held this weekend at Ohio State. Defending state champions Hathaway Brown (Shaker Heights) in Division II and Harvest Prep (Canal Winchester) in Division IV each have advanced to state semifinals.

BRIEFLY
The Olentangy Liberty (Powell) hockey team advanced for the first time to the state tournament, where it lost to eventual champion St. Francis 9-4 in a semifinal last Saturday. … The Reynoldsburg and Northland girls basketball teams, which each lost in the Division I regional won by Pickerington North, should return strong casts next season. The Raiders' top two players were junior Aliyah Zantt and sophomore Destini Cooper. The Vikings have a pair of players who already are high on recruiters radars in junior Symone Denham and sophomore Alexis Peterson. … The Mifflin (Columbus) boys basketball team earned a Division II district title March 10 despite having just a 12-12 record.

Jarrod Ulrey covers Central and Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com. He covers prep sports for ThisWeekSPORTS.com and can be reached at julrey@thisweeknews.com.