Viking bigs stop East

"Hallelujah, hallelujah," are the words that came out of coach Tihon Johnson's mouth as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Northland had yet another game that was a bit too close for comfort in the first half. East entered the contest at 3-1, while Northland was 1-3. Despite the differences in records, Northland was the favorite.

The defending Columbus City League champion Vikings were coming off of a loss to Centennial, for the first time in 25 years. In its first win against International, a team that has lost 38 games straight going back to Jan. 9, 2024, Northland had to climb out of an early 6-0 deficit to build a 15-8 first period lead in an eventual 74-21 win.

On Dec. 16, the visiting East Tigers survived an onslaught as Northland built a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. Just when it looked like the Vikings were going to cruise to a blowout win, East found the kryptonite to Northland's success during the early part of this season.

East hustled to collect rebounds, which has hurt Northland in each of its losses. The Tigers went on a 7-2 run which made it a 15-7 score. By the end of the quarter Northland was able to keep things afloat as senior newcomer Daneal Krylov scored 13 of his game high 26 points. The transfer forward from New Albany helped Northland take a 24-16 lead into quarter number two.

East played its best basketball in the second quarter, outscoring Northland 18-14. The Tigers took advantage of another early season Northland weakness as Dae Shawn Fiore became the latest player to shoot the lights out against the Vikings from three.

Charlie Ruby posted four threes against Northland as it lost against Columbus Academy. Cam Johnson dropped five threes in Centennial's win over the Vikings. Fiore topped both of them, draining seven triples. He hit two of those threes in the second quarter to go along with a couple of two-point buckets. Northland held a slim 38-34 lead at halftime.

East felt great to be in that position. It won at Beechcroft last week for the first time in ages. Fiore's shooting along with Northland's sloppy passing and lack of focus gave East a strong chance to steal another road win.

While Northland found itself ahead in a 52-48 battle late in the third quarter, the home team had one undeniable advantage that it hadn't truly taken advantage of earlier on in the night.

That advantage was size.

It didn't appear that East had any players that were at least 6-4. Northland has the aforementioned Daneal Krylov who is 6-7 to go along with forward Owan Mburugu who stands at 6-5. Both of those players were in the starting lineup and served as an obstacle for East throughout most of the night. Things became totally unbearable for the Tigers when the largest Viking entered the game in the third quarter after a brief appearance in the second quarter. The 6-9 center, Pharoahe Zaire previously started as a freshman at International in 2023-24.

After not playing for International and competing for the Howard Community Center in the Columbus Recreation and Parks 18U League during the 2024-25 season, Zaire made an anticipated return to high school hoops against East. Coming back from a broken foot that he suffered in late August, Zaire scored his first basket as a Viking late in the third quarter on an assist by senior guard Ke'Ondre Tubbs as Northland pushed its tight lead to 54-48.

From there, the Northland big men went on a relentless attack in the paint. Mburugu scored the next bucket on a layup after rebounding a Northland three-point miss to close the third period with a 56-48 Viking advantage.

The Vikings' first offensive possession of the fourth quarter saw Mburugu get an assist after dumping the ball into the soft but giant hands of Zaire who scored off of the glass, pushing the lead back to double digits, 58-48. With very little chance of scoring inside East's Naz Wentworth launched an unsuccessful three-point attempt over the outstretched hands of Zaire, only to have Mburugu chase down the long rebound. The speedy athletic junior dribbled the ball up the court and finished through contact to make the score 60-48.

On offense East tried again to draw the 350 pound Zaire outside of the paint. This time DeMarcus Butler, who up until that point had been having a good game, shot a ball over Zaire. The Northland center's presence forced Butler's miss to barely draw iron as the ball veered off to the right. Butler entered the fourth quarter with 12 points. He was scoreless in the final period.

Wentworth got the East offensive board and tried to get a layup, but Krylov earned a clean block which found its way into the hands of senior point guard Diante James. James found Tubbs in transition, who scored another Northland layup.

After the quick exchange between the two guards, the Northland bigs got back to work. East had one last gasp of hope when Tony James, who had 11 points, hit a deep three to make the score 62-51. Krylov came right back down and slammed home two more points. When it was all said and done, Northland closed out the game with a 79-65 win.

Mburugu scored 20 points, Tubbs led the Northland non-starters with 16 points off of the bench. Zaire had six points in his Northland debut. It was the first non-start of his high school career.

East scored 30 of its 65 points on three-point shots. Only four Tigers scored but each of them posted double digits, including Davion Davis who had 16 points.

Northland, now 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the Columbus City League North division, will host Linden-McKinley on Friday. Linden-McKinley, also 2-1 in City League competition, toppled Beechcroft in a 50-45 road win on the same night that Northland stopped East. Linden-McKinley is 2-2 overall. The Panthers dropped its first two games, including a loss to North division rival Centennial. Linden-McKinley earned its first win when it edged out Mifflin 50-48 on Dec. 12.

East, 3-2 overall and 2-1 in City League North competition will take its turn at home against unbeaten Centennial who is now 6-0 and 3-0 in the North. Centennial continued its stellar start with a 60-32 thrashing on the road against Whetstone.