Marlon Landingham's 30 points in 71-63 win at Glenville pull Rhodes closer in Senate League picture

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Marlon Landingham and his Rhodes teammates never beat Glenville. The Rams last won a boys basketball game in this Senate League rivalry early nearly five years ago.

That changed Friday night at Glenville.

Landingham scored a game-high 30 points, sophomore Amarion Dickerson added 19 points with 11 rebounds and Rhodes pulled away with a dominant third quarter for a 71-63 victory.

"It was a big win," Landingham said. "I've never beat them before. We came to their house and did it.

Landingham, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, ignited the Rams (9-4, 6-2 Senate League) early with a one-handed slam. He later set up Dickerson, the Rams' promising 6-5 sophomore forward on one of a few two-handed slams.

Once the rim stopped shaking, Rhodes pulled even with Glenville (9-8, 6-2) for second place in the Senate. They both trail undefeated East Tech (13-0, 8-0) as the Senate's regular-season schedule enters its final stretch. Glenville hosts East Tech, the No. 8-ranked team in the cleveland.com Top 25, on Tuesday. They all will likely meet Feb. 6 for the league semifinals with the winners playing for the city championship two days later at the East Professional Center.

East Tech and Glenville have dominated the league, but Rhodes is serving notice that it is a player.

"Last year, we would have lost this game easily," Dickerson said. "Mentally we weren't there. In the scrimmages, we weren't there either. I feel like we developed as a team a lot."

Glenville opened the second quarter on a 10-point run. The Tarblooders, who were paced by senior forward Terry Taylor's 19 points and 14 rebounds, built a nine-point lead. The big 6-5 Taylor added a tomahawk dunk a few seconds before halftime.

Rhodes coach Shawn Spencer took a calm approach to his halftime talk.

"I didn't go crazy," he said. "I just had a conversation with them: 'Hey, you guys have worked too hard to play this way.' If we continue to do the right things, play the right way, we'll be fine. I like their chances."

The last Rhodes team to beat Glenville was led by Darriontae Stewart, a 6-6 forward now in his senior season at Lourdes. That Rhodes team won 16 games. Since then, the Senate's big school on the west side has flirted with .500 records.

Not anymore.

"They're dangerous," said Glenville coach Michael Holt, whose program won last year's league championship. "They're long and athletic."

They also still have league matchups with MLK and John Marshall, which also are in the Senate tournament picture.

"My gut feeling says we'll play them again in the playoffs," Holt said of Rhodes. "Somebody's going to be second and third."

Holt's squad only has three scheduled games left, not counting the potential league tourney.

"We went out of the gate and played nine games in 11 days at the beginning of the season," he said. "I set it up that way hoping we'll start to develop."

He took a senior-laden squad to last year's championship and now has a first-year sophomore, guard Byron Ottrix Jr., as his leading scorer. Holt played another sophomore and freshman, too.

Ottrix scored 11 points Friday, but nine came in the first half.

"They're just going to send people at him until we get players who will give us 10, 12, 13 points," Holt said. "I really don't want him to score 31 points a game. We have to spread it out a bit, but we'll be fine."

Rhodes took control with a 12-point run in the third quarter. Dickerson and junior Deangelo Williams outmuscled the Tarblooders inside. Williams finished with 14 rebounds, and the Rams completed the third quarter on a 26-12 run.

Dickerson added a corner 3-pointer during the decisive run. He added a few more slams, including a lob off the backboard in the fourth quarter from freshman guard Jamal Sumlin.

"We're hungry now," Dickerson said. "It would be a pleasure to win the Senate, but we want something bigger."

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