By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — John Geglia is not afraid to admit it. He can get greedy when it comes to Early College’s best perimeter threat.
Jagdeep Drumgoole connected three times behind the arc in a decisive second quarter, and Early College defeated the Edison Tech Inventors, 76-61 in RCAC action Friday night at East High.
Clinging to a one-point edge early in the second stanza, Drumgoole hit his second three-pointer of the evening. Two shots later from the senior point guard, and the Cobras led by eight on their way to a 13-point halftime advantage.
“Is it selfish to expect it?” Geglia said of Drumgoole. “He’s our best shooter. He’s a real cerebral basketball player. He’s been playing for me for three years. He knows the concepts.”
Drumgoole hit four treys and finished the night with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“He knows what’s a good three, and what is a three that we can wait on,” Geglia added. “I have the utmost confidence in him. He’s got the green light.”
Drumgoole balanced Early College’s inside game which saw three Cobras – Shandare Figgins (20 points, 11 rebounds), Bryan Harrell (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Tajmin Holt (14, 11) post double-doubles.
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“We’re big,” Geglia said of the 6-foot-5 Figgins, 6-foot-4 Harrell and 6-foot-3 Holt. “The philosophy is attack the paint and opponents try to make us beat them from the outside. Jagdeep is our answer for that. He’s our shooter. He’s going to shoot people out of zones. He’s going to stretch out zones. He’s going to open up the paint inside four our bigger guys. He’s a great kid. Can’t say enough about him.”
Jagdeep Drumgoole feeds Bryan Harrell on the break. pic.twitter.com/z6oc9bT4OI
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 28, 2017
Drumgoole got hot against an Edison Tech team which showed a variety of zone looks on defense.
“It just depends on the defense,” Drumgoole explained. “Sometimes in a 2-3 you can get more shots in the gaps at the top. Then sometimes with an odd-front defense you get more of your shots from the corner because you got one man trailing down in the corner. It just depends on the defense. You got to read the defense. That’s all.”
“He reads defenses very well,” Geglia added. “He understands it. He and Tajmin too. They have a quick recognition of the defense and they’re able to process where the ball needs to go. What offense to get into. They know what a good shot is.”
Jermer Murrell converts the rebound and putback. pic.twitter.com/RaMO7wmuAi
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 28, 2017
Edison cut the deficit to seven midway through the third quarter when Marique Simkin delivered a 60-foot baseball pass on a sideline out-of-bounds play to Chaz McKinney for a layup. Edison trailed 48-41. The Inventors Amari Holland made it 50-43 game on a runout. It was as close as would get.
Marique Simkin creates the steal and converts the layup at the other end. pic.twitter.com/rKDd0BMiwL
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 28, 2017
“I thought our defense did a nice job,” Geglia stated. “We limited them to tough shots. We dominated the boards I thought, and our defense was pretty good limiting them to one tough shot.”
The Cobras were also able to keep Simkin from dominating the game. Edison’s senior point guard has more than a couple 25-plus point outings on the season.
“He’s so fast end line to end line with the ball that you have to be cognizant of where he is with the basketball,” Geglia noted. “You can’t jog back even after makes. He’s pushing the ball down your throat if you’re not set up in defense. If you’re not stopping the basketball, it’s going to be a long night, so our first point of emphasis was to stop the basketball.
“We played the 3-2 and a little bit of 1-3-1. We usually play a lot more man. We played the 3-2 because I felt it gave us the ability to shut down penetration and gaps. All week long we’ve been working on taking away the penetration gaps from the top of the key, the wings and the corner. I think he had a hard time getting through those gaps. Of course we had some bigger guys down low which makes finishing down there kinda tough. We were kinda daring him if they could get through those penetration gaps to take it at our big guys. We knew it would be a tough, contested shot in the paint. We really wanted to take away his transition game and take away penetration from the outside.”
Simkin finished with 18 points. Holland scored 14 – al in the second half. McKinney added eight.
Figgins handed out eight assists.
Early College, a Class B school, improved to 8-6 with the win.
Edison fell to 7-7.
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