MCC boys basketball: Sophomore Northrop leading charge for post-Beo Bombers

Replacing a guy like Steven Beo is a tall task — some might say an impossible one — but the Richland High School boys basketball team is doing just fine without him and fellow first team All-Conference guard Landon Radliff this season.

Now in the early stages of 2017, Beo (two-time Mid-Columbia Conference Player of the Year) is playing for BYU, Radliff for Walla Walla Community College, and the Bombers have a 3-0 conference record heading into the second leg of league play.

Coach Earl Streufert said it’s the depth and success of Richland’s basketball programs from the youth levels up and the experience of graduating other highly talented players in the past that have allowed his team to move on from the class of 2016.

While individuals don’t build programs, sophomore sensation Cole Northrop has sure made the post-Beo transition smoother. The 6-foot-3 guard enters this weekend’s contests as the conference’s second leading scorer, averaging 19.8 points per game.

“We’ve always known he was a really good scorer. My son Garrett (sophomore guard) grew up with him and played on the same team with him forever,” Streufert said. “Cole’s just got a knack for scoring. He usually has the opportunity to make some shots, and he could be one of the better shooters we’ve ever had.”

Northrop excelled in his role as the Bombers’ No. 3 shooter behind Beo and Radliff last season, and has moved nicely into a role as the team’s top scorer this season. He still needs to round out some other areas of his game, but Streufert thinks Northrop has the moxie to continue his development while shouldering the bulk of the team’s scoring duties.

“It’s almost a burden sometimes when you have lots of success early, but with his demeanor and his personality, I think he’s just going to keep getting better and better,” Streufert said. “The bottom line for him is that he just wants us to win — I don’t think he cares how many points he scores.”

Senior guard/forward Tyler Kurtz has also lent a big hand on the scoring end for the Bombers — who lead the MCC with 72.8 points per game. Kurtz is averaging 16.3 points (fourth in MCC) and is pulling down double-digit rebounds most nights, but Streufert said those aren’t even his most valuable assets.

“He has a great work ethic, he plays with great pace, he can shoot the three, he can post you up, his mid-range game is solid,” Streufert said. “The guy can play 32 minutes and never get tired, he’s got a quarter-miler’s mentality. He’s going to spit blood before he quits playing.”

A lot of of Kurtz’s production this season has come from two monster performances. The first was a 36-point, eight-rebound performance to lift the Bombers to a season-opening, 86-81 win over Lewiston; he then had 27 points and 15 boards when Richland lost to Central Valley 69-68 on Dec. 29.

Kurtz had to sit out Richland’s postseason games last season because of illness, which Streufert said was a major reason the team missed the state playoffs for the first time in five years.

The Bombers faced a brutally tough nonconference schedule in December that featured Greater Spokane League powers Ferris (7-2), Gonzaga Prep (9-1) and Central Valley (8-1), which account for all three of Richland’s defeats. Richland didn’t shoot the ball well in any of those games — didn’t make a 3-pointer against Ferris or Gonzaga Prep — but Streufert doesn’t see his team living and dying by outside shooting this season.

“I don’t think outside shooting is going to be our determining factor. It’s our ability to learn to defend, because we just don’t defend very well right now against good teams,” said Streufert, whose team is giving up 62.4 points per game. “Traditionally, we get better defensively as the year goes on, and we’re going to have to do that.

“The biggest thing is that we’re not going to just shoot ourselves into the playoffs at the end of the year, we’re going to have to do a lot of other things well to get there.”

Richland resumes conference play with road games against Kennewick on Friday and Walla Walla on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 7:19 PM with the headline "MCC boys basketball: Sophomore Northrop leading charge for post-Beo Bombers."