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Eric George/ThisWeek

Devon Scott, Jalen Robinson (12) and the Northland boys basketball team won their sixth City League title in a row with a 66-55 victory over Walnut Ridge on Feb. 18 at Columbus East. Buy This Photo

Barring the unexpected, the district tournament won’t truly heat up for the Northland and Brookhaven high school boys basketball teams for at least a couple rounds.

The top-seeded Vikings are 19-1 and follow their 66-55 victory over Walnut Ridge in the City League championship game Feb. 18 by playing Central Crossing in their Division I tournament opener at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Marysville.

The winner faces Columbus West in a second-round game at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29, at Marysville. The second-round winner will play St. Charles, Zanesville, Dresden Tri-Valley or Pickerington North in a district semifinal at 6 p.m. March 7 at Marysville.

Both the Comets and Cowboys went 0-20 in the regular season.

Similarly, Brookhaven will face an 0-20 opponent in its Division II tournament opener in Hamilton Township. The teams play at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Dublin Scioto.

“We’re happy to win the Cit,y but we still have bigger goals,” Northland coach Sean Taylor said.

Brookhaven previously competed in Division I before dropping to Division II this season.

After going 14-5 during a regular season, the Bearcats received the second seed.

The Brookhaven-Hamilton Township winner will face 15th-seeded Caledonia River Valley or 21st-seeded Bexley in a second-round game at 7:45 p.m. March 3 at Scioto. The district semifinal is 8 p.m. March 7 at Scioto, where the opponent would be ninth-seeded Marion-Franklin, Beechcroft or Independence.

“I know that Hamilton Township was (winless) at the tournament drawing (Feb. 12), but it should be a very competitive tournament,” Brookhaven coach Hali Robinson said.

Both Northland and Brook-haven enter the postseason after closing the regular season on high notes.

Devon Scott scored 23 points and Jalen Robinson had 14 points and 11 rebounds against Walnut Ridge. The win gave the Vikings their sixth consecutive City League championship.

The game also marked the return of senior point guard Jordan Potts, who hurt an ankle during a 75-63 win over Brookhaven on Feb. 3 and missed the final two games of the regular season. Potts made two 3-pointers and had 11 points against Walnut Ridge.

Northland has won three consecutive district titles and four district titles in the past five seasons, in addition to beating the Scots for the last two City titles.

“We want to win the state,” Potts said. “This is a steppingstone to getting to that game.”

Brookhaven also has high aspirations for the postseason after failing to make it past the second round of district each of the past three seasons.

The Bearcats’ Randal Clarkson and Khalid King joined Potts, Robinson and Scott as well as Centennial’s Elias Osborne on the all-City-North first-team. Northland’s Ke’Chaun Lewis made second-team all-league and Brookhaven’s Kevin Greenhow, Blake McEwen and Jaylen Poland all were honorable mention all-league.

For Beechcroft, Khaleed Franklin made the second team and Maurice Hale and Arthur Thomas were honorable mention all-league.

•The Northland and Brookhaven girls basketball teams both won their tournament openers, while Beechcroft’s season ended with a 75-34 loss to top-seeded Jonathan Alder in the first round of the Division II district tournament Feb. 16.

The Cougars will lose just one senior in Tiara Woodfork after finishing 6-15 overall and 3-11 in the City-North behind champion Northland (14-0).

Freshman Terika Broady (10.5 points per game) and junior Hailee Cannady (9.0 ppg) each made honorable mention all-league. Sophomore Oddyssey Riley also is eligible to return after averaging nine points.

Against Jonathan Alder, Riley had nine points and sophomore Ke’Azia Moseley scored eight.

“One of the positives of this season was the development of two of our younger girls, Oddyssey Riley and Terika Broady,” said coach Mike Fleming, who completed his sixth season. “Their continued development will help us go into next year on a better note.”

Northland is seeded fourth for the Division I district tournament and beat Briggs 92-14 in the first round Feb. 18.

The Briggs game was the first this season that Northland played without senior Symone Denham, who went down late in a 45-37 win over Africentric in the City championship game Feb. 11 with an injury that turned out to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

According to coach Dean Washington, she will miss the remainder of the season.

Senior Raven Bryant-Williams, sophomore Brooklyn Peterson and freshmen Ariel Skipper and Armani Skipper all could see increased playing time in her absence.

Junior Alexis Peterson scored 12 points against the Bruins, including the 1,000th for her prep career.

•The Divisions I and II district wrestling tournaments will be Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.

Northland junior Anthony Alexander will compete in the Division I tournament at Hilliard Darby at 138 pounds after earning a sectional runner-up finish Feb. 18 at Marysville. He is 35-2 and will try to become what coach Toby Hawk believes would be the first wrestler from Northland to advance to state since 1991.

The top four finishers in each weight class at district advance to the state tournament March 1-3 at Ohio State.

“Anthony lost an amazing match in the (sectional final to Marysville’s Noah Forrider) 13-9,” Hawk said. “Forrider is the No. 1 (seed) at 138 pounds in the district, and for good reason. He earned the victory, but Alexander put him on his back twice, so we know we’re getting close. He is excited about the prospect of becoming Northland’s first state qualifier in over 20 years.”

Brookhaven had just five sectional competitors in the Division II tournament at Big Walnut, but four qualified for district at Uhrichsville Claymont.

Advancing for the Bearcats were senior Devon Williams (160), junior Jalen Bonner (145) and sophomores Righteous Bridges (106) and Devonte Lewis (120).

Moving on to the Division II district tournament for Beechcroft from the Big Walnut sectional was senior Amos Gweh (160).