ROCHESTER, N.Y.– Any lingering effects from Tajmin Holt‘s off-season injury are in the past. The Early College senior, who missed the first three games of the season, has found his stride, and the Cobras have served notice to the rest of Class B.
Holt poured in 24 points, and Early College dispatched the NE Douglass Panthers, 66-45 in RCAC action Thursday night at School No. 33.
Holt tallied seven as Early College scored the first 11 points of the game.
“It was a good win,” he said. “I was just fired up. Last time we played them I had a bad game, so I wanted to get back at it.”
The 6-foot-3 forward converted a rebound and putback, drilled a three-pointer and his follow up on the break made it an 11-0 game and brought a timeout from the NE Douglass bench with 4:52 in the first quarter.
“He had that look tonight,” fifth-year coach John Geglia said.. “You could see it in his eyes. You could see it in his body language. Playing like it is the end of his high school career.”
Holt hit another trey, and Early College maintained the 11-point margin at the end of the first quarter.
“It’s nice to start a game that way,” Geglia said. “It’s what we want to do. We want to jump on teams especially when our legs are fresh, play as tough as we can defensively.”
Shandare Figgins finds Tajmin Holt underneath for two. pic.twitter.com/YBqfqcp5Io
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 3, 2017
Early College limited NE Douglass to two field goals over their first 17 possessions of the second quarter. Manny Cotton grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the floor to give the Cobras their largest lead of the half at 34-15.
Holt’s fourth triple of the night made it a 21-point game early in the third quarter, and NE Douglass did not cut the margin to single digits for the remainder of the contest.
“Once we were up 16 at half I told them in the locker room to recognize the situation,” Geglia explained. “The clock is our friend. We decided that we’re going to protect the guys that were in foul trouble, first of all play 3-2 zone. Force them to take some time off the clock. We really wanted to pack it in and make them use some time. That seemed to kind of fluster them a little bit. They had a hard time getting into gaps.”
Bryan Harrell for the and-one! pic.twitter.com/DDg9RSHloZ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 3, 2017
Holt finished the night eight of 13 from the floor and four of six from behind the arc. He grabbed 10 rebounds. Early College improved to 12-4 on the season with its fifth consecutive victory and eighth out of its last nine games. The Cobras haven’t lost to a Section Five opponent since a 77-66 setback to Leadership Academy on December 20 – Holt’s second game back in the lineup.
“Took me like three and half, four weeks to get back into it,” he said about the recovery from surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot suffered during a summer league game. “After the first week and half of January I started feeling better.”
With four games remaining in the regular season, the two-time reigning Class C champions have turned their attention on the sectional tournament starting later this month, and as Geglia pointed out Holt has made it his responsibility to make sure his teammates understand the importance of the opportunity in front of them.
“He gave a nice little talk in the locker room,” Geglia said. “After I got done giving out the game plan reminders. We’re predominantly seniors. We have 10 seniors on this team. He just reminded everybody that we’re getting to the end of our high school careers. It’s not going to be too many of us playing college. We’re going to be done. We have to play these five games like it’s the last time you’re ever going to play basketball. It’s one thing to say it in the locker room, but he went out there and he did it in the first quarter. He did it all game long.”
Bryan Harrell added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Cobras. Shandare Figgins finished with 12 points and five assists.
Early College hosts Wilson-Magnet next Tuesday.
Torrence Phillips led NE Douglass (11-6) with 18 points. Jiahmere Mitchell chipped in 14.
Jiahmere Mitchell connects for three. pic.twitter.com/9DuFo6iIal
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 3, 2017
The Panthers host Leadership Academy on Tuesday.
Early College lost to Bishop Grimes (III) on January 15 and Buffalo-Health-Science Charter School on December 29. The Cobras moved up to Class B this season.
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