Sullinger Helps Vikings Make It Three Straight
 

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Jared Sullinger

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Posted 02-21-09

 Jared Sullinger says he's feeling pressure but certainly isn't playing like it. The 6-9 junior and Ohio State recruit was a man among boys in Northland's tougher than expected 62-56 victory over Eastmoor Academy in the City League Championship game Saturday at Mifflin High School.

 Sullinger scored 17 of his game-high 31 points after halftime, including 12 in the third quarter, and was a presence inside all day. The Warriors had no answer for him on the offensive or defensive end -- Sullinger also yanked down 23 rebounds and had a pair of blocked shots. Playing with a renewed sense of determination, Sullinger is attempting to make up for the perceived wrong he did last season.

 "I do feel pressure because I messed up," Sullinger said, noting the one-game suspension he incurred for failing to stay on top of his school work. "I let our four seniors down, and that made me feel really bad. I messed up, but there have been no mess ups this year and won't be. I do kind of feel like I have to take it up a level, and not to sound boastful or anything but I wanted to take the game over in the second half."

 Eastmoor (14-6) led 34-33 at the break thanks to torrid shooting from long range -- connecting on seven three pointers, including five from shifty guard Ron Tanner.

 "They played hard and I think we kind of came out sluggish," Sullinger said. "They made us work, and I think some teams in the tournament are going to try to do what they did. They had a good game plan and made us earn everything we got, but we stay focused and did what we had to do to win the game. It feels great to get the City title, but we want to go further than we did last year. We have that in the back our minds now that the tournmanent is getting ready to start."

 Northland (19-1) trailed 6-2 early before scoring 11 straight points, and held a 23-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. Eastmoor did not go away, however, and its in-your-face man defense gave the Vikings all kinds of trouble. Turnovers, both forced and unforced, led to scoring opportunities for the Warriors, who cut a 29-19 second half deficit to 29-28 on a knifing drive through the lane by Doug Thorpe with just under two minutes remaining. A pair of free throws by Sam Belisle put Northland up 31-28, but consecutive treys by Tanner, including one with two seconds left, gave Eastmoor momentum heading into the locker room.

 "This feels great," Northland coach Satch Sullinger said. "But our journey is not yet complete. We weren't really pointing to winning this game or going undefeated as much as we were pointing to winning the last game of the year. That's what the mindset is."

 The elder Sullinger noted that his son didn't touch the ball much in the second quarter, and that had to change if the Vikings were going to win.

 "That was by design," the coach said of Jared scoring the first six points of the second half. "We had to exploit that because when we got away from getting the ball inside Eastmoor did a nice job of turning us over and scoring. Jared came up big, but it's not about any one player with this team. It's a unit rather than a group of individuals, and we got a lot of good minutes from all of our kids today."

 Northland looked ready to run away with the game after taking a 47-39 lead with 4:50 left in the third quarter. But Eastmoor got it back to 49-47 on free throws by Tanner. Baskets by JD Weatherspoon, a Xavier signee who finished with 17 points, and Sullinger pushed it back to 54-49 at the end of the third, setting the stage for a frantic final eight minutes.

 "The place was pretty crazy," Jared Sullinger said. "There was a lot of energy in here and both teams played hard. We just had to stay with what we do and keep Eastmoor from getting easy baskets."

 Northland once again pushed it to eight points, 57-49, but Eastmoor rallied, making it 57-56 on a three-pointer by Alex Coleman with 3:42 left to play. But those would be the final points for the Warriors, who watched helplessly as Northland controlled the glass and hit three free throws in the final 32 seconds.

 Coleman finished with 19 points to lead Eastmoor, which plays the winner of the Linden-Hamilton Township game Feb. 27. Northland, the state's top ranked Division I team, opens tournament play Wednesday against Watkins Memorial at New Albany High School.