Northland, sans Sullinger, is off to another hot basketball start in Ohio

Even with Jared Sullinger now starring at Ohio State as a freshman, the Northland (Columbus) boys basketball team has had a new look but similar results this winter.

With a 63-54 victory last Saturday over Rice (New York City) in the opening game of the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling W.Va., the Vikings were off to a 6-0 start that included five wins by at least 19 points.

Senior Trey Burke, who signed with Michigan in November, is leading a cast that also returns several others from the squad which followed its 2009 Division I state championship by earning a regional runner-up finish last March.

Junior 6-foot-8 post players Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott are others on the Vikings' roster who have received extensive looks from Division I colleges.

"Trey was the best player in the gym (last Saturday)," coach Satch Sullinger said of Burke, who was named the game's MVP after finishing with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting including making two 3-pointers. "Devon Scott's rebounding was big for us. We got contributions from everybody."

Junior guard Jordan Potts contributed 14 points and three assists, senior forward Jakyl Cornley added 10 points and Scott finished with eight points and 14 rebounds. The Vikings also held Jermaine Sanders, a University of Cincinnati signee, to 12 points.

Northland, which had won 37 consecutive games and was the nation's No. 1-ranked team in most polls when it lost to Lincoln (Gahanna) in a regional final last season, has three regular-season games remaining against opponents outside of the Columbus City League.

Jason Hickman's feature on the Northland team

VON KAENEL WINS 500TH GAME
The Dover boys basketball team's 50-42 victory over Meadowbrook (Byesville) last Friday marked the 500th of coach Bob Von Kaenel's career. He became the 40th coach in Ohio high school history to reach that achievement.

Von Kaenel went 142-103 in 11 seasons at Tuscarawas Valley (Zoarville) before taking over in 1992 at Dover, where he is 358-90. He led Tuscarawas Valley to a Division III state runner-up finish in 1998 and Dover to a Division II state runner-up finish as well.

"It's longevity," Von Kaenel told the Dover-New Philadelphia Times Reporter. "It will be harder for people to do that in the future because coaching is such a challenge today."

ST. EDWARD, CHANEL WIN DUALS TITLES
The St. Edward (Lakewood) and St. Peter Chanel (Bedford) wrestling teams each captured state dual-meet tournament championships last Sunday.

St. Edward won its 12th Division I title, beating Perry (Massillon) 34-16 in the championship of the eight-team, three-round tournament at Wadsworth. The Eagles also beat Mayfield 54-18 and Elder (Cincinnati) 50-10.

In Division III, St. Peter Chanel (Bedford) beat Dixie (New Lebanon) 38-21, Nelsonville-York (Nelsonville) 48-24 and West Jefferson 39-27 to win the title.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Larry Nance Jr., Revere boys basketball: During a 47-45 overtime victory over Central Catholic (Cleveland) last Sunday in the Villa Holiday Classic at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center, Nance finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-7 son of the former NBA star with the same name is being recruited by Michigan and several schools from the Mid-American Conference and Horizon League.

* Jake Bischoff, Olentangy Liberty boys basketball: Bischoff made five 3-pointers and finished with 27 points and five assists to lead the Olentangy Liberty (Powell) to a 65-48 victory over Westerville Central last Friday. The Patriots improved to 8-2 overall and 6-0 in the OCC-Cardinal Division with the victory.

COMING THIS WEEK
* Catholic Invitational Tournament, wrestling: The 50th annual Catholic Invitational Tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday at Toledo Central Catholic. St. Peter Chanel (Bedford) is back to defend its title after scoring 226.5 points to win last year's 36-team event.

* Upper Arlington (Columbus) at Dublin Coffman (Dublin), boys basketball: A pair of central Ohio powers will meet Friday when Coffman plays host to Upper Arlington in Ohio Capital Conference-Central Division action. Upper Arlington won its first nine games, while Coffman won its first seven.

* Classic in the Country, girls basketball: The 2011 Classic in the Country Challenge will be held Saturday through Monday at Hiland (Berlin). The event will feature seven games on Saturday, with the day's final game featuring perennial small-school powers Africentric Early College (Columbus) against the host squad at 8:30 p.m.
There also will be six games on Sunday and seven on Monday.

RECRUITING NEWS
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Elyria Catholic senior center fielder Jasmin Filiaggi has committed to play softball at Cleveland State. She batted .400 with 29 stolen bases and posted a .943 fielding percentage last spring.

BRIEFLY
The Olentangy (Lewis Center) wrestling team lost at Graham Local (St. Paris) 49-19 in the championship match of the Division II state dual-meet tournament. Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls) beat Crestwood 40-32 in the third-place match.

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.