The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Sulka joins elite group with 51-point game
Feat is rare achievement among area players
Chardon’s Alex Sulka forged a reputation as one of the area’s best scorers in his sophomore and junior seasons.
Now a senior, no Hilltopper has scored more points than Sulka. He became the program’s all-time leading scorer earlier in the season and set a single-game scoring record with 45 points on Jan. 20.
Sulka recorded back-toback 40-point games when he dropped 41 on South six days later.
On Feb. 6, Sulka earned a place in Ohio high school basketball history.
The 6-foot senior, who has interest from John Carroll, scored 51 points in the Hilltoppers’ win against North. Sulka scored 39 points in the second half and shot 24 of 26 from the foul line. He made one 3-pointer as his relentless, punishing drives to the basket resulted in layups or free throws.
“I just felt like I was so on,” Sulka said. “Anytime you score that much, you have to be on.”
High-scoring games aren’t unfamiliar to Sulka. Through 18 games, he leads the area with 28.9 points per game.
But Sulka’s game felt different in front of his home crowd Feb. 6.
When the Hilltoppers trailed by two at halftime, Sulka boosted his effort to a newfound level.
“That was a must-win game for us so I went out with more intensity than I had in the first half,” Sulka said. “There was just a rhythm to it.”
Sulka joined an illustrious group of Ohio high school basketball players to score at least 50 points in a game. According to OHSAA records, the state single-game scoring record is held by Sedalia Midway’s Dick Bogenrife. Bogenrife scored an astounding 120 points in a game against Canaan in 1953.
LeBron James and Clark Kellogg are among the club’s members. James recorded a pair of 50-point games for St. Vincent-St. Mary, one against Mentor in just over three quarters of play.
Kellogg capped his high school career at St. Joseph with his best individual
performance in a Viking uniform. Kellogg scored 51 points and pulled down 24 rebounds in St. Joseph’s loss to Columbus East in the 1979 state title game.
Kellogg’s 51-point performance remains the state championship scoring record.
Players from the area to accomplish the feat include Richmond Heights’ Steve Robinson, Harvey’s Emery Martin and Andy Boothe, Benedictine’s Gerald Parks, Mike Medich and Rian Powell, Beachwood’s Robbie Heiser, Newbury’s Jack Mental and Euclid’s Quintin Dove.
Dove’s 50 points against Mentor on Jan. 26, 2016, was the first 50-point performance against the Cardinals’ since James’ game 13 years prior.
Dove’s explosion headlined a breakout senior season that featured multiple 40-point games and netted Division I offers for the 6-foot-7 wing. He transferred to Euclid for
his final high school season after he spent his junior year playing junior varsity at VASJ.
Euclid lost its first eight games of the season and finished 4-18. At Mentor on Jan. 26, Dove wanted to prove the Panthers were better than their record. Down 24 at half, Dove pulled Euclid within 13 after three quarters. The Panthers closed within two before Dove fouled out in the final minutes.
Euclid lost, 85-81, but Dove’s titanic effort put the Panthers in a position to win.
“I was definitely tired,” Dove said. “After the game, I could barely stand up. It was back-and-forth, I was getting beat up, fouled, they weren’t calling it. I was zoned out, it was awesome.”
Dove, currently at Cuyahoga Community College, will play D-I basketball next season at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
“I’m in the group with a
lot of good players and players that I look up to, stuff like that,” Dove said. “It’s an honor to be in that category where most of them stand.”
Sulka’s performance closely mirrors other 50-point games from 30 years, or more, prior. Boothe, Parks, Medich, Heiser and Mental all reached the half-century mark in one game without the aid of 3-pointers.
Conneaut’s Dave Sillanpaa, now a Perry resident, scored 50 points in a game against Erie East during the 1977-78 season. He missed only two shots — a dunk and half-court shot at the buzzer — and accumulated most of his points on putbacks. Sillanpaa also made 18 of 26 free throws.
He recalls his team didn’t run many plays designed for him to shoot. Sillanpaa averaged about 23 points per game his senior season by cleaning the offensive glass.
His 50-point game required monumental effort.
But had the 3-point shot existed 41 years ago, Sillanpaa is unsure if he would’ve scored at the same rate. He jokes his range barely extended to the foul line.
“Those shots tend to have long, long rebounds,” Sillanpaa said. “I was a rebound and put it back guy, so I don’t know if I would’ve had all those offensive opportunities on the long rebounds.”
From Sillanpaa to Sulka, the Chardon senior added another memorable milestone to an unforgettable senior. He’ll continue to add to his career-record scoring total during the postseason, when the Hilltoppers compete in the Division II Lakeside District.
However Sulka’s basketball career proceeds, he cemented his legacy as one of Northeast Ohio’s most prolific scorers on Feb. 6.
“It was a surreal thing,” Sulka said. “I’m still kind of in shock I was able to do that, even two weeks later.”