King Kendrick helps lead Northland to win over Beechcroft
COLUMBUS, Ohio – King Kendrick entered his sophomore season at Northland with a lot of hype, after faring well against professional basketball players as the youngest athlete competing in the Kingdom Summer League.
The speedy, ambidextrous point guard was so impressive that he already had received Division I college basketball scholarship offers from Arizona State, Texas A & M, Ohio and Kent State, and he has garnered praise from current and former NBA players, including Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving.
Yet, instead of letting his recent success go to his head and resting on his laurels, Kendrick has instead continued to compete hard in every high school contest.
On Tuesday, that trend continued when the budding star scored a game-high 21 points and stole the ball six times while leading the Vikings to a 83-52 victory at Beechcroft.
With the win, Northland improved to 8-3 overall and 7-0 in the City League-North Division.
“When I hear and see some of the things that are being said about me, it feels like wow, that’s really great and (flattering),” Kendrick said. “But I really want to stay humble and level-headed because I’ve gone from being the hunter to the hunted, so I want to stay focused and do my best to help our team win.”
Kendrick’s best was good enough to draw 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the near-capacity crowd, and help the Vikings race out to a 51-28 halftime advantage en route to the victory.
After Kendrick made three consecutive midrange jump shots, he stole the ball at midcourt and then converted a layup to complete a 6-0 run that put Northland ahead 17-2 midway through the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Kendrick then drove into the paint and scored with soft floaters – using a different hand each time – and he sank two foul shots with 6.7 seconds remaining in the second quarter to help Northland build its 23-point halftime lead.
“This kid is special,” said Beechcroft coach Humphrey Simmons, whose squad dropped to 5-7 overall and 4-2 in the City-North. “King was already poised and a good ball-handler as a freshman, but now he’s added a nice midrange shot that he shoots at a high percentage, and he’s become a lot better all-around player.”
Kendrick continued to use fancy ball-handling skills to weave his way through defensive pressure and make quick, no-look passes, in addition to scoring eight more points in the second half.
After the Vikings built a 79-44 advantage with 6:47 remaining, King stood and cheered on his teammates from the bench while a running clock was employed under OHSAA rules.
“Sometimes we’ve come out slow this year, but we were hyped right away, and after we jumped out on them quickly, their energy went down, down, down,” Kendrick said.
Point guard Diante James once again was the second half of Northland’s dynamic sophomore backcourt duo, as he made two 3-pointers and scored 11 of his 18 points in the first quarter.
James was instrumental in Northland’s quick knockout punch, as he scored seven consecutive points on his own while helping the Vikings jump out to an 11-1 lead, which prompted Simmons to call an early timeout.
“Our point guards are dynamic in that they both run our offense well and can score from anywhere on the court,” said Northland coach Tihon Johnson, whose squad won its first City-North title since 2016 last season on the way to beating Africentric in the City League championship game. “They are both averaging about six assists per game, and they are excellent ball-handlers and decision-makers. If one of them gets into foul trouble, the other one can anchor the ship.
“Diante’s smart and skilled, and he’s our best on-ball defender.”
Nehemiah McMorris, a 6-foot-8 junior post player, scored nine of his 14 points in the third quarter to help Northland continue to pull away in the second half.
Sophomore guard Jaden Shoultz scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, including a driving dunk over top of a Beechcroft defender that made it 46-22 with 2:59 remaining in the second quarter and electrified Northland’s fans.
“When Shoultz dunked on them, all of the momentum changed in our favor,” Kendrick said. “We got hyped, our crowd got louder and their energy was down. We could barely hear their fans in the second half.”
Senior forward Santonio Dortch, who transferred from Northland to Beechcroft for his senior season, scored 18 points to lead the Cougars. Khalil Samuel also scored nine points and Dominique Wise had seven points for Beechcroft.
“We’re a very young team, in terms of varsity experience, but our seniors are selling out for our team and we’re doing our best as we continue to learn,” Simmons said. “Santonio has been a big help for us, and he’s averaging about 20 points and 10 rebounds. We’re hoping that by tournament time, our team should see some huge growth.”
Beechcroft senior Rosean Burns – who is one of the top guards in the state despite playing with one hand after having the lower portion of his right arm amputated when he was eight months old – scored only six points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field.
Burns – who was in foul trouble for long stretches of the game – scored a game-high 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field in last year’s matchup between the squads, when Northland escaped with a 62-57 overtime victory.
“Ro’s a great player and we respect him and did everything we could to keep the ball out of his hands,” Johnson said. “I’m proud of our team’s effort and execution. We wanted to start fast and strong, and we executed well, offensively, to build a big lead and put this game away early.”
